Ebo Landing

Ebo Landing. 1992.
Edition EP of 10, 2 APs.
Two silver gelatin prints and one screen print text panel.
60” x 20” installed.
© Carrie Mae Weems. 
Courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York.

This vertical triptych visually depicts the mythical place where Ibo men, forcibly brought to the shores of South Carolina as slaves, took part in one of the most notorious acts of resistance during the antebellum period. Weems activates this tranquil landscape by textually articulating the story of Ebo Landing. The text panel recounts the tale of a group of men that declined to be slaves and walked into the water towards a certain death rather than acquiesce to a life of captivity. Juxtaposing this folktale with silver print photographs depicting the Sea Islands of today charges the images with new meaning, importing historical knowledge and referencing centuries of oppression by displacement. Visually reinforcing the elusive meaning of the story, the fallen trees in the composition convey the notion of an uprooted life faced with an arduous future.

Molly Donovan ‘16
Gund Gallery Associate

Ebo Landing
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