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Mark Steven Greenfield
Solitude of Guadeloupe

2021

About the Item

Halo presents an amazing cast of historical black figures, most of whom were legendary and mythic characters in their time, but have been nearly lost to the vagaries and biases of history as seen through a white lens. With Halo, Greenfield brings the stories of Black folk-saints, martyrs, freedom-fighters, survivors, magicians, and visionaries back into view. Many of the figures are from the 1400-1800s, a timeframe that corresponds with Europeans beginning to use racial distinction as a tool to justify slavery. Greenfield honors their simultaneously disturbing and astounding lives by bestowing them with halos, traditionally seen as reverential symbols of adoration and respect. “I am reimagining what a saint is,” Greenfield says. “Maybe in studying their stories, they can inform us on better ways to live.” Solitude (c. 1772-1802) was a resistance fighter and heroine in the fight against slavery. She was born in the French West Indies on the island of Guadeloupe in the late 18th century. Her mother was an enslaved woman from Africa, and her father was a sailor who raped her mother at sea when she was transported from Africa to Guadeloupe. Experiencing the abolition of slavery in 1794, she joined a ‘Maroon’ community until Napoleon Bonaparte reinstated slavery in 1799. Solitude fought in the slave resistance before she was caught and imprisoned by the French. Due to the fact that she was pregnant, she was spared hanging until one day after giving birth. She was 30 years old.
  • Creator:
    Mark Steven Greenfield (1951, American)
  • Creation Year:
    2021
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 36 in (91.44 cm)Width: 24 in (60.96 cm)Depth: 1 in (2.54 cm)
  • Medium:
  • Movement & Style:
  • Period:
  • Condition:
  • Gallery Location:
    Santa Monica, CA
  • Reference Number:
    1stDibs: LU47810171402

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