From Slavery to Freedom Garden by Virginia Christman
Medium: foraged plants, digital photograph
Dimensions: 16 x 20
Artist Statement: Virginia Christman is a botanical photographer, and this late May collection of plants was primarily gathered in collaboration with James Brown, the Director of the Frick Environmental Center (FEC), and are found in the “From Slavery to Freedom Garden” at the FEC in Pittsburgh, PA. The plants found inside the garden gates are all native flora likely utilized as food, medicine, and protection by enslaved people as they made the dangerous journey on the underground railroad in pursuit of liberation. The picture represents the commitment to communal wisdom and knowledge that the elders shared for the sake of all those suffering the journey towards freedom. The subtly shifting gradient of green across the collection of leaves and flowers models the often imperceptible spread of life-saving and powerful knowledge from freedom-seeker to freedom-seeker all along the hard-fought paths towards liberation. Elders and leaders can posture themselves to interrupt the flow of power and knowledge or can open the floodgates, utilizing their position to make ways for others to thrive. To share knowledge communally is to build political power across difference and distance and is a way to defy the design of the powerful few hell-bent on stealing and hoarding. Sybil’s Shrine embodies a commitment similar to that of the freedom-seeking elders who shared their knowledge of plants and land to stay alive and keep others alive on the way towards freedom. Wise leaders like the community of Sybil’s Shrine share what they know, help move people and organizations forward, and work not only for their own benefit but for the well-being of the whole.
Image description: Photograph of a variety of mostly green plants and leaves arranged so that the lightest greens are in the bottom left corner and the leaves gradually get darker through to the top right corner. The leaves are arranged in a tight vertical rectangle and leaves placed on the outer edges are cut to ensure visually straight lines between the black background and the green gradient rectangle.