Afro-Latin American Art
10 Afro-Latin American Art Alejandro de la Fuente1 It is a remarkable moment, barely perceptible, tucked at the edge of the image. Titled “Mercado de Escravos,” the 1835 Johann Moritz Rugendas (1802–58) lithograph depicts a group of African slaves who wait to be purchased, while some potential buyers walk around and a notary or scribe appears ready to make use of the only visible desk (see Figure 10.1). In the background, a Catholic Church coexists harmoniously with the market and overlooks a bay and a vessel, perhaps the same ship that brought those Africans from across the Atlantic. While they wait, most of the slaves socialize, sitting around a fire. Others stand up, awaiting their fate, between resignation and defiance. One slave, however, is doing something different: he is drawing on a wall, an action that elicits the attention of several of his fellow slaves (see Figure 10.1A). What was this person drawing on the wall? What materials was he using? Who was his intended audience? Did these drawing partake of the graphic communication systems developed by some population groups in the African continent? Was he drawing one of the cosmograms used by the Bantu people from Central Africa to communicate with the ancestors and the divine? (Thompson 1981; Martínez-Ruiz 2012). Was he leaving a message for other Africans who might find themselves in the same place at 1 I gratefully acknowledge the comments, suggestions, and bibliographic references that I received from Paulina Alberto, George Reid Andrews, David Bindman, Raúl Cristancho Álvarez, Thomas Cummins, Lea Geler, María de Lourdes Ghidoli, Bárbaro Martínez- Ruiz, and Doris Sommer.
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