On the positioning of the previous Scott’s Grove Baptist Church, artist Tony M. Bingham has constructed a monumental work of contemplation and reflection. Two wood-paneled partitions stand parallel within the serene clearing with stained glass home windows, a Sylacauga marble ground, and a metal cutout depicting members who as soon as worshiped on its grounds.
A tribute to native historical past, Bingham’s work is titled “The Reward Home,” which takes its identify from the vernacular buildings individuals who have been enslaved usually constructed on plantations all through the Southern U.S. as an area for prayer. “My method of addressing the ability and the legacy is to simply start to take a look at a number of the doable sources of opposition that the enslaved group might have participated in,” the artist says.
A brand new brief documentary follows Bingham as he visits The Wallace Heart for Arts and Reconciliation and installs the work. Positioned simply exterior of Birmingham in Harpersville, Alabama, the previous plantation home is now an area for therapeutic and reconciliation run by descendants of each the enslaved and enslavers.
As we speak, the middle hosts a wide range of artwork and tradition programming to mirror on its historical past, and “The Reward Home” is one such fee. After studying extra in regards to the enslaved communities, Bingham wished to create a piece that honored their legacy. “Utilizing natural, repurposed, and cast-off supplies, I make artwork that tells the story of my cast-off folks,” he says, including:
The home was being traditionally renovated, and planks of lumber have been being changed. I imagined that these previous boards have been the very surfaces enslaved folks walked on or touched, and I sought to convey these supplies again collectively in a method that might encourage reflection on the historical past of the enslaved individuals who as soon as lived there.
Directed by Tyler Jones of 1504, the movie is a poignant, enlightening glimpse into the prolonged course of behind “The Reward Home.” Bingham, who’s a professor at Miles School in Birmingham, ceaselessly invokes the historic realities of the placement and returns to elementary questions in regards to the goal of his work and artwork extra broadly. “Who will communicate for my folks if not the artist?” he asks. “Who will assist these exterior of the artwork dialog to know the artistic potential they possess?”
Watch “The Reward Home” above, and discover extra from the artist on Instagram.
