Spirits of the Flowers Keep Watch
Jean/ne and Me: Spirits of the Flowers Keep Watch
This project began as a story about a French herbswoman, Jeanne Barret Dubernat (1740-1807) who, disguised as a man, became the first woman to circumnavigate the world.
This is a story about journeys. And heroes. About who gets to tell our stories.
This is a story about stories. And flowers. And beauty and pain.
Process: To better understand Jeanne's life and her stories' significance today, I looked to art and art history. I began with artists of Jeanne's lifetime, if not her social standing, artists like Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun and François Boucher. I also explored paintings that presented material evidence of Jeanne's world. For example, while searching for naval vessels of the time, I found William Turner's painting of the horrific massacre aboard the British slave ship, the Zong. In 1781 more than 130 enslaved African people were killed by the Zong's crew. Seems the owners had insured the Africans as cargo and were worth more dead, than alive.
I began to wonder what other clues survive from the places Barret lived and traveled to--France, Brazil, Argentina, Tahiti, Mauritius. And what significance does her journey, and the way we tell her story, hold for us today? Do the roots of colonialism continue to play a role in the health of our planet?
I’ve chosen artists’ work, from the early 17th century to the 21st, that help me answer this question. The project title is taken from Paul Gauguin’s painting, Spirit of the Dead Keep Watch.
I create and photograph still-life interpretations of each artist's work using artificial, mass-produced materials that are vastly different from the plants and herbs Barret encountered on her journey. I also photograph each artist's work somewhere in my home to physically and emotionally connect with Barret and explore how art connects us directly to our planet's true power, beauty, and fragility.
From this work I make still images, experimental videos, and analogue and digital collages.
Artists Referenced: Adriana Varejão, Candice Lin, Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun,Firelei Báez, François Boucher, Kehinde Wiley, Leonor Fini, Lisa Reihana, Pacita Abad, Paul Gauguin, Roberto Matta, Roelandt Savery, Wangechi Mutu, William Turner