A new commission from legendary artist Betye Saar entitled Seeking Secrets of Destiny was installed yesterday at the Legacy Gallery inside the expanded Legacy Museum in downtown Montgomery, Alabama.
“We are thrilled to have a newly commissioned piece from the legendary Betye Saar at the Legacy Museum gallery,” EJI director Bryan Stevenson said. “Ms. Saar’s lifetime of work on memory and history makes her latest piece perfect for our collection which uses art to reinforce learning about the legacy of slavery. We are also excited that her piece will be positioned next to a work from her talented daughter, Alison Saar.”
Seeking Secrets of Destiny is a mixed media assemblage that explores history, memory, and the movement of both physical and spiritual forces of nature.
To celebrate the installation, the candles that adorn Seeking Secrets of Destiny were lit, a feature that Ms. Saar noted is meant to represent “not physical light but enlightenment.” An ever-evolving piece, the candles will drip down when lit, changing the texture of the piece itself upon each lighting.
“In many of my works, I’ve used canoes and boats as I’m drawn to their symbolism of movement and journeys. This particular canoe has wear and tear, holes and scrapes, of the journey it has endured,” Betye Saar told attendees at a reception to celebrate the installation.
“The interior is stenciled with the haunting diagram of the 1781 slave ship Brooks, a stark reminder of how people were packed, shipped, and trafficked across oceans in the most horrific of conditions. The red is about the blood spilled, the sacrifices made,” she explained.
“It’s a reminder that these histories are still present in the land we walk on. For me, this work is about movement, both human and animal, and the sacrifices made in the journey. It’s about the mystery of history, seen and unseen, shadowed and then brightened by the light we bring to it.”
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Dozens applaud Betye Saar at a special reception celebrating the installation.
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Bryan Stevenson introduces Ms. Saar.
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EJI Staff Assistant Ariel Harris greets Ms. Saar.
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Candles that adorn Seeking Secrets of Destiny are lit.
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Bryan Stevenson and Betye Saar with her newly installed work.
One of the Greatest Artists of Our Time
Born in 1926 and regarded as one of the greatest artists of the 20th century, Betye Saar’s art and creativity have been shown around the globe.
She is best known for assemblage and collage works that reflect on identity and challenge racism, including The Liberation of Aunt Jemima, a piece in which she transformed Aunt Jemima from a derogatory caricature into a woman determined to be free.
Like many, Betye Saar was deeply impacted by the death of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968, and this tragic event contributed to the inspiration for the piece. Angela Davis later credited The Liberation of Aunt Jemima with launching the Black women’s movement.
Throughout her career, Betye Saar has been “intrigued with combining the remnant of memories, fragments of relics and ordinary objects, with the components of technology”—gathering objects from around the world to transform into assemblages.
At the installation of Seeking Secrets of Destiny, Ms. Saar remarked that creativity is a gift, especially when you have the opportunity to work with recycled, found materials. She said she regards herself as a recycler of objects and ideas.
Ms. Saar’s many accomplishments include dozens of solo exhibitions around the world, including at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, countless group exhibitions, and myriad honorary doctorates, including from the California Institute of the Arts and Massachusetts College of Art and Design.
Celebrating Iconic Artists at the Legacy Museum
The Legacy Gallery is located within the Legacy Museum, which provides a comprehensive history of the U.S. with a focus on the legacy of slavery. It includes major works from the most celebrated Black artists in the country, with pieces created specifically for the museum, and its entire collection is curated in dialogue with the museum’s historical narrative.
Alongside Ms. Saar’s new commission are works from Alison Saar, Simone Leigh, Faith Ringgold, Hank Willis Thomas, Glenn Ligon, Elizabeth Catlett, and Gordon Parks, among other iconic artists.