EMANCIPATION: The Unfinished Project of Liberation

Emancipation: The Unfinished Project of Liberation sits at the intersection of history and contemporary life. Building upon in-depth conversations about representations of enslavement and emancipation at the close of the Civil War, this project originates from an analysis of sculptor John Quincy Adams Ward’s The Freedman (1863), one of the first bronze representations of a Black person in the United States, and expands into an investigation of how living artists envision emancipation, freedom, and liberation today.

This project explores how freedom and liberation continue to inspire creative conversations. Dive in and discover fresh perspectives on emancipation—because the story of liberation is still unfolding!