The Promised Land – The Grayson Family by William S. Jewett

Grant Wood: American Gothic

Willie Cole: Stowage

Fred Wilson: Mining the Museum

George Washington Crossing the Delaware

George Washington Crossing the Delaware, Collescot

Dave Tole: Toy Soldiers #12

Faith Ringgold: Die N***er

Stephen Hayes: Cash Crop

Lorna Simpson

Untitled from the Runaways. 1993

Anti-Slavery Picnic at Weymouth Landing – Massachusetts

Mary Emerston – to Banish Slav’rys Bonds From Freedom’s Plains

David Hammons: How Ya Like Me Now?

 

The Irony of Freedom in the United States of America

The American dream has forever been associated with and based on the concept of ‘freedom’ and liberty, ever since Christopher Columbus set sail in 1492 in the hope to find Asia. Columbus’ discovery of new land led to the thought of Promised Land, as depicted by William S. Jewett. Thousands of free acres of land left many colonizers with the potential to do whatever it was that they wanted – to be ‘free’. The famous painting of George Washington crossing the Delaware further portrays the political narrative of the American states built from the founding fathers. However many pieces of art undermine the original conception of American freedom. Fred Wilson’s Mining the Museum exhibit is a bridge that connects the perceptions of the American history of freedom and the reality of the freedom. The country was infact founded by colonists and was ironically raised on the backs of black shackled slaves. Fred Wilson releases a strong image of the relationship between slaves and their masters – the property and the ‘free’. Colescott’s version of George Washington crossing the Delaware further undermines the original founding of the ‘free’ country. A further push back that reveals the true history of the country is David Hammons’ How Ya Like Me Now? which led to controversial discussions on race after it was damaged just days after being displayed as it showed the contrast between how we convey and how we understand the history of the freedom of the United States.

Despite the United States rapidly becoming a symbol of ‘freedom,’ however, the notion of ‘freedom’ depended entirely on the perspective. Grant Wood’s American Gothic depicts an average white, religious working class couple in early America who saw freedom as something that was earnt, through hard work. The United States’ once legendary concept of ‘freedom’ was first questioned in the early 16th century when the first slaves came to the country from Africa, by ships like that shown in Willie Cole’s Stowage. The iron piece suggests the cramped conditions the slaves suffered whilst crossing the Atlantic as well as the movement of their culture from Africa to the United States. The slaves traveled to the land of the free only to be sold and auctioned off to new masters. Immediately, ‘freedom’ was turned around and became an issue of race. Those who were African American were sold into slavery, and white rich men were deemed able to be successful and strive towards ‘freedom’.  Here a new perspective of ‘freedom’ is introduced – can ‘freedom’ really be earnt through intense work? In the slave’s case, absolutely not.

The cruelties of slavery and the ‘freedom’ of the country so bizarrely coincided. People came to the country, the land of the free, following the flag, in hope to find this idea of ‘freedom,’ without much knowledge of the lack of freedom of thousands of people. The American flag is ironically shown in many of the pieces I have collected. Firstly, it appears in Dave Cole’s Toy Soldiers #12 which illustrates the American flag’s symbol of freedom that comes with continuous fighting to secure those who are ‘free’ within the country. In extreme contrast with this piece, is Faith Ringgold’s Die Nigger, which strongly plays against the validity of and infact goes completely against the American ideals of freedom. Faith Ringgold’s piece focuses on the legitimate race issue which arose from slavery in America. In the 16th to 19th centuries, African Americans were not free and were infact seen and treated like property. The two missing slave pieces from The Runaways show the master’s perception of their possession of their property, the slaves. Similarly, Lorna Simpson’s Idea of Intersecting Identities art pieces contribute towards all the slaves who were never able to have identities and, instead, lived amongst more slaves without identities as property on their masters’ plantations. When slavery began to be abolished in the Northern states, freedom was not immediately assumed but was actually taught and learnt by numerous slaves. ‘Freedom’ was now a concept that was not given but had to be learnt. The Anti Slavery Picnic in Massachusetts piece depicts a utopia of harmony, equality and freedom which although the country may have wanted, did not exist.

The irony of freedom in the United States started initially with the founding fathers who were infact colonists, who built a country on slavery. The majority of America was infact limited or enslaved and the ‘freedom’ they so eagerly had been searching for did not exist. America has always been a symbol of freedom but ironically, has never represented equal freedom.