New artwork by leading artist Deanio X will be on display from tomorrow (Sat 28 Sept) at Wilberforce House Museum.
To Heal a Butterfly is a project that creates a visual response to the Wilberforce Institute’s research and the Guardian’s Legacies of Enslavement project. It focuses on understanding more about who the enslaved people of the Sea Islands and Jamaica linked to the Guardian newspaper were.
The artworks, placed alongside and within the displays at the museum, include a combination of improvisational portraiture, digital animation and sculptural installation. The commission is a partnership and has been funded jointly by Hull Museums and the Wilberforce Institute, University of Hull.
Deanio X’s work responds to the limited historic details of transatlantic slavery, where enslaved people and their descendants were denied the ability to document their own experiences. His portraits are imagined representations of enslaved people listed within the Sea Island records, and will temporarily replace historical paintings in the museum. Their materials and style will make reference to the West African origins of their subjects, including use of African adinkra symbols.
Digitally animated versions of the portraits will be displayed on screens throughout the museum and provide a sense of life and movement to the faceless names of peoples listed in the records.
A sculptural installation will respond to the museum’s Benin plaque, which was split in two by bomb damage in World War 2. Deanio X presents this as a powerful metaphor for British and African diasporic relations since the colonial era, an open wound in need of redress and recovery.
Deanio X said: “When addressed, enslavement records and displaced objects remind us of how untended wounds carved in historic trails of power and conflict extend through time and space to exacerbate legacies of division in the present. To Heal a Butterfly is in homage to the philosophical significance of West African adinkra symbols such as the Fafanto – a symbol of tenderness, gentleness, honesty, and fragility represented by a butterfly. These artworks explore how different artforms might be used to create new forms of memorialisation for underrepresented narratives and figures in colonial archives.”
Cllr Rob Pritchard, portfolio holder for culture and leisure said: “It’s great to see this new commission coming to Wilberforce House, offering a new and fresh perspective on the evocative subject of slavery.”
Robin Diaper, Hull Museums Curator said: “We’re really excited to be working with Deanio on this thought-provoking project. There are many different perspectives and ways of viewing the complicated and challenging history of slavery. Deanio’s work will provide a new way of looking at this shared history.”
Dr Nick Evans from the Wilberforce Institute, University of Hull says:
“The University of Hull is delighted to work with Deanio X and our friends at Hull Museums through this exciting project. Art has an important role in communicating the brutality of Britain’s slavery past to new audiences. Deanio’s artistic practice brings to life research with The Guardian led by Dr Cassandra Gooptar. Thanks too for all the help of the Wilberforce House Museum Advisory Board who guided this project throughout.”
This commission is funded by Arts Council England, as part of Hull Museums role as a National Portfolio Organisation which they fund. The project has been a partnership between Wilberforce House Museum, the Wilberforce Institute, and the members of the Wilberforce House Museum Advisory Board, which is comprised of local historians, activists and academics of colour.
Deanio X’s series of thought-provoking artworks will be on temporary display at Wilberforce House Museum until 23 April 2025.
