It is a communal and generational work, which means too it is a family work, of memory and preservation. For decades now––through family reunions, storytelling, cemetery caretaking, historical research, and oral history—contemporary family descendants of enslaved African people who lived and died on the Lang Syne Plantation and True Blue Indigo Plantation in South Carolina have preserved and transmitted the heritage from their forbearers, as well as defended it from effacement or erasure. The new exhibit Songs for Ritual and Remembrance, now open through Sunday, September 17, 2023, at the University of Pennsylvania Arthur Ross Gallery, looks to explore this work.
July 5, 2023
