Maroon Archive.

an exhibition zine

for my mother.

and her mother.

for my mother.

and her mother.

1: formerly enslaved Africans and their descendants who gained their freedom by fleeing chattel slavery and running to the safety of remote terrains throughout the Americas and Caribbean.

2: taken from the Spanish word "cimarrones" meaning unruly, fugitive, and wild.

ma•roon (noun)

a note from the curator

I am Liberian American and the daughter of a Librarian–two things that define me in many ways. Throughout the late 90s, I grew up in my mothers library and on the many floors of the public libraries across Durham. There my love for reading, writing, and learning was fostered. Reading, whether in the physical or digital world, and being in community with elders and community members, is what radicalized me. It taught me about the infinite realities of creativity and my identity as a Southern black woman whose family left West Africa in pursuit of the many possibilities scattered across oceans.

Maroon Arhcive came from a sudden fascination with maroons and the migration of black people across space and time, including my own families migration and displacement.

The art and books in this collection are evidence of the possibility of blackness, and the recorded histories, realities, and visions of black folks across the diaspora.

All of the books and archival material featured in this collection were carefully curated from my personal collection with some items lovingly lended from the collections of local artists and community members. They cover a wide variety of topics including art, revolution, film, black feminism, technology, and more.

Clear-Knowing

Aliyah Bonnette

2021

Quilt with oil

Approx. 45 X 62 inches

Saye and Ralph

Kennedi Carter

2021

16x20, Fine art paper

In 2021, I co-conceptualized Parables, a photo salon capturing black people and black literature, with photographer Kennedi Carter. Through this project, we invited black folks to come to Reparations Club, a black bookstore in Los Angeles, to sit for photos with Kennedi, featuring beloved books from their personal collection or Reparations Club’s curated collection.

Saye and Ralph depicts the hands of my maternal cousin, Saye Wuo, holding Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison.

This image was developed and minimally restored from a found 35mm negative and depicts two black dancers performing at Lincoln Center’s 10th annual Out of Doors Festival in New York City. From Marcella Zigbuo Camara’s personal found photo negative archive.

i am the black gold of the sun - rotary collective

2. 85 to africa - jidenna

3. tezeta (nostalgia) - mulatu astatke

4. feelin it - jay-z

5. flaunt - mick jenkins

6. almeda - solange

7. millionaire - kelis ft andre 3000

8. riot - earl sweatshirt

9. lets start - fela kuti ft ginger baker

10. runitup - tyler, the creator

11. ungodly hour - chloe x halle

12. colors - pharaoh sanders

13. rare essence_tma_83 bpm - kelela

14. past, present, & future - demon fuzz

15. $payforhaiti - kaytranada ft mach-hommy

16. little sunflower - dorothy ashby

négro revival: a sonic moodboard

Music was a core part of Maroon Archive, as viewers were invited to play vinyl on a communal record player while they experienced the exhibition. Here are some of the vinyl featured in the exhibition with links to learn more about the musicians.

Mapping, Rendering, Grandma Lolo and Her Children

Ambrose Rhapsody Murray

2022

Natural dyed silk, cotton, vintage kantha quilt, found curtain, woven jacquard tapestry and digital print on netting (archival family photos).

This image was developed and minimally restored from a found 35mm negative and depicts a woman with a basket on her head, as others pass by. Taken by an unknown amateur photographer in Liberia in 1958. From Marcella Zigbuo Camara’s personal found photo negative archive.

May you study the pink of yourself. Know yourself riverine and coast. May you taste the fresh and the saltwater of yourself and know what only you can know. May you live in the mouth of the river, meeting place of the tides, may all blessings flow through you

-alexis pauline gumbs, undrowned

Durham, NC hip hop. Vibe Magazine. November 2004.

Aliyah Bonnette

Kennedi Carter

Ambrose Rhapsody Murray

"the role of the artist is to make the revolution irresistible" - toni cade bambara