I Am Queen Mary
Exhibit Details
Artists: La Vaughn Belle CC'95 and Jeanette Ehlers
August 2023 – June 2024
Milstein Center, Barnard College
I Am Queen Mary came to Barnard’s campus in Fall 2019 on long-term loan courtesy of artists Jeanette Ehlers and La Vaughn Belle CC'95, with support from Lisa Kim ’96, Director of the Ford Foundation gallery and Tami Navarro, former Associate Director of the Barnard Center for Research on Women. She originally held court in Barnard Hall, and has now been moved to the Milstein Center lobby.
This replica is a scaled-down iteration of the original 23-foot monument which was installed in front of Copenhagen’s West India Warehouse in 2018, commemorating the 101st anniversary of Denmark’s sale of the Virgin Islands to the United States.
The figure is an allegorical representation of Queen Mary Thomas, one of four women who led the 1878 ‘Fireburn’ revolt against the continuing exploitation of Black workers in St. Croix after slavery had long ended. Queen Mary’s regal presence invites a conversation about representations of Black resistance in places where colonial histories have been made invisible.
To learn more about the I Am Queen Mary project, visit www.iamqueenmary.com, and the following resources:
- The Campus Welcomes a ‘Queen.’ Barnard Magazine, Winter 2020
- Break This Down: ‘I Am Queen Mary’ at Barnard. Barnard College, October 15, 2019
- Belle, La Vaughn, Jeannette Ehlers. I Am Queen Mary. Meridians: feminism, race, transnationalism, April 1, 2023
- Belle, La Vaughn and Jeanette Ehlers. Artists On A Mission To Change Whose Stories Get Remembered In The Public Space. Native Influence.
- Brackman, Yvette. A Mighty Woman with A Torch. Kunstkritikk: Nordic Art Review, June 14, 2018.
- Bruney, Gabrielle. This Black Woman Who Led a Labor Uprising Is Finally Getting a Monument. VICE. April 10, 2018.
- Danbolt, Mathias, Michael K. Wilson. "A Monumental Challenge to Danish History." Kunstkritikk: Nordic Art Review, April 26, 2018.
- Luna, Rikke, and Matias. Who Is That? And How Come I Don’t Know? IDOART.DK. April 19, 2018.
- Navarro, Tami. From Danish West Indies to America’s Poorhouse. S|X Salon. October 2017.
- Sorenson, Martin Selsoe. Denmark Gets First Public Statue of a Black Woman, a ‘Rebel Queen.’ New York Times. March 31, 2018.
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