Eliza's PECULIAR Cabinet of Curiosities
2017 - current
Currently installed at the Lynden Sculpture Garden in Milwaukee, WI
We worked closely with artist Fo Wilson to realize her (afro-futurist?) vision of a reimagined slave cabin for a fictional character named enslaved girl named Eliza. In preparation for the project, we toured extant slave dwellings in the American South, from North Carolina to Florida, analyzing construction methods, taking measurements, photographing. We also met with Joseph ____ of the Slave Dwelling Project. The resulting structure was a timber-framed cabin built from white oak – mortise-and-tenon, wood-peg construction – a hybrid of a form based on historic slave dwellings and a contemporary sculptural/architectural installation.
The resulting structure was a timber-framed cabin built from white oak – mortise-and-tenon, wood-peg construction – a hybrid of a form based on historic slave dwellings and a contemporary sculptural/architectural installation. The cabin featured a “fallen” wall that becomes a performance stage, there is a ladder that mysteriously protrudes through the attic and roof, there are video installations in the floor boards and walls, a video projection in the attic, all powered by solar. The cabin has become a center at Lynden Sculpture Garden for African-American creative expression. It is programmed throughout the summer with everything from dance to music, performance art, poetry, food… It has been a catalyst for LSG to become a center for creative African-American studies.
