It is gratifying to see the exhibition Hear Me Now: The Black Potters of Old Edgefield, South Carolina come to the MFA Boston after its celebrated run at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Having designed the exhibition catalog, I am thrilled to see this exhibition travel to different museum venues, and to see the unique expression of this content in each venue. The majority of the work in this exhibition is unattributed—the potters were enslaved laborers. One known master artisan whose work features prominently in the exhibition is a potter named Dave, who scratched his thoughts and poems onto the surface of many of his vessels. An exhibition design element I felt was particularly effective at the MFA Boston exhibition was their mesmerizing adaption of Dave’s handwriting within the gallery. Above the exhibition space his scripts are projected on to a screen, bringing his words and thoughts to life above his works, adding a spirited presence to the room. On one storage jar, dated 1857, Dave expresses his role as creator, potter, and poet with the statement, I made this jar for cash though its called lucre trash.
Another artist in the exhibition, whose work is strongly influenced by Dave's and explores similar issues of the value of the object and its creator is the contemporary artist Simone Leigh. Currently Boston is privileged with 2 exhibitions featuring Simone Leigh’s work. The ICA Boston’s current solo show of her work includes many of her works which were featured in the 59th Venice Biennale show of 2022. Two of her large scale Jugs are on display in the ICA’s exhibition. On these pieces, the surface motif resembles cowrie shells, historically one of the world’s oldest forms of currency. In a 2020 ARTnews interview Leigh stated, “I would describe the cowrie shell as a stand-in for the female body, or a body in general, or a representation of an absence as well as a presence.”
Top row: Hear Me Now exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art;, left, and at the MFA, Boston, right; Middle row: handwriting by Dave the potter at the MFA, Boston; Bottom row: Hear Me Now exhibition catalog; Simone Leigh, Jug series, Metropolitan Museum of Art and at the ICA, Boston