OUR BLOOD, BRICKS, AND STORIES
(Historic Freedmen's Town Brick Streets)
40"h x 30"w
Inkjet print, Epson UltraChrome Ink on Moab
Juniper Baryta Rag paper
SATCHEL LEE WORKS WITH MINIATURE FABRICATOR, MAGGIE DEER, TO RECONSTRUCT HISTORICALLY SIGNIFICANT STRUCTURES FROM FREEDMEN’S TOWN AT A REDUCED SCALE, TREATING THEM AS VESSELS OF MEMORY. EACH MODEL IS METICULOUSLY CRAFTED, THEN RE-PHOTOGRAPHED AND PRINTED AT MONUMENTAL SIZE, COLLAPSING INTIMACY AND GRANDEUR. BY SHRINKING THE PAST TO STUDY IT CLOSELY, THEN ENLARGING IT TO COMMAND REVERENCE, THE MODELS TRANSFORM INTO ACTS OF RECLAMATION—RE-CENTERING BLACK STORIES, ARCHITECTURE, AND COMMUNITY THAT URBAN RENEWAL AND GENTRIFICATION HAVE LONG OBSCURED.