I Am Queen Mary (Copenhagen, Denmark)
Dublin Core
Title
I Am Queen Mary (Copenhagen, Denmark)
Subject
Subject (Topic)
Slavery
Resistance
Middle Passage
Transatlantic Slave Trade
Slave Trade; Diaspora
Copenhagen, Denmark
Slavery
Resistance
Middle Passage
Transatlantic Slave Trade
Slave Trade; Diaspora
Copenhagen, Denmark
Subject (Name)
Thomas, Mary (Queen Mary), ca. 1848–1905
Thomas, Mary (Queen Mary), ca. 1848–1905
Subject (Object Type)
Commemorative sculpture
Commemorative sculpture
Description
An imposing figure of a woman stares straight ahead, seated barefoot on a wide-backed chair. She holds a torch in one hand and a tool used to cut sugar cane in the other. The sculpture was inspired by Mary Thomas, one of the Three Queens of St. Croix. Thomas, along with two other women, led an uprising in 1878 called the “Fireburn.” Fifty plantations and most of the town of Frederiksted in St. Croix were burned, in the largest labor revolt in Danish colonial history.
Visually, the work reminds viewers of the long and sustained history of the black freedom struggle. According to the artists, the torch and the cane bill are symbols of colonial resistance, while Queen Mary's seated pose mirrors the 1967 photograph of Huey P. Newton, founder of the Black Panther Party.
The statue’s plinth incorporates the coral foundations of historic buildings on St. Croix, which were cut from the ocean by enslaved Africans. The work's unveiling coincided with the centennial year commemorating Denmark's sale of the islands of St. Croix, St. John, and St. Thomas to the United States in 1917. The work sits in front of what was once a warehouse for Caribbean sugar and rum, and just over a mile from where Thomas was jailed after her arrest for her role in the labor uprising. Convicted of arson and looting and sentenced to death, her sentence was commuted to life imprisonment. In 1882 Thomas was transferred to Copenhagen and placed at the Women's Prison, Christianshavn, but in 1887 was sent back to Christiansted, St. Croix to serve the remainder of her sentence.
Visually, the work reminds viewers of the long and sustained history of the black freedom struggle. According to the artists, the torch and the cane bill are symbols of colonial resistance, while Queen Mary's seated pose mirrors the 1967 photograph of Huey P. Newton, founder of the Black Panther Party.
The statue’s plinth incorporates the coral foundations of historic buildings on St. Croix, which were cut from the ocean by enslaved Africans. The work's unveiling coincided with the centennial year commemorating Denmark's sale of the islands of St. Croix, St. John, and St. Thomas to the United States in 1917. The work sits in front of what was once a warehouse for Caribbean sugar and rum, and just over a mile from where Thomas was jailed after her arrest for her role in the labor uprising. Convicted of arson and looting and sentenced to death, her sentence was commuted to life imprisonment. In 1882 Thomas was transferred to Copenhagen and placed at the Women's Prison, Christianshavn, but in 1887 was sent back to Christiansted, St. Croix to serve the remainder of her sentence.
Creator
Ehlers, Jeannette; Belle, La Vaughn
Source
Wikipedia Commons
Date
March 31, 2018
Contributor
The Municipality of Copenhagen; Wow Factory; 3D Printhuset; SMK; The National Gallery of Denmark; ActionAid, Denmark; Beckett-Fonden; the Danish Agency for Culture and Palaces
Relation
To learn more about the artists and inspiration for the work, click here.
Format
JPEG
Language
English
Type
Visual Arts-Sculpture
Coverage
Collection
Citation
Ehlers, Jeannette; Belle, La Vaughn, “I Am Queen Mary (Copenhagen, Denmark),” Contemporary Monuments to the Slave Past, accessed September 18, 2024, https://www.slaverymonuments.org/items/show/1157.