Ten Views, Reconsidered

In 1823, while working as an overseer on the island of Antigua, William Clark (of Lewis & Clark), completed a series of ten paintings of enslaved Africans producing sugar to sell on the international market. He called the set, Ten Views in the Island of Antigua. 100 years later, my great-grandfather, Henry, one of seven children in a family of laborers from Royal’s Estate, emigrated from Antigua to New York City in pursuit of consistent work and a better life. 100 years after that, I learned about the relationship between slavery in my Antiguan family line and Harvard Law School, which was established from the bequest of the Antiguan, slave owner, Isaac Royall Jr. Ten Views, Reconsidered speculates on the complex connections between Antigua, the Royalls, Harvard University and my family, by re-imagining Clark’s historical paintings as digital collages merging the near and far past into the present.

This collection is part of the forthcoming, The Maria Trilogy project.

Digital Prints

12 x 12 inches

M. Asli Dukan ©2020