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I Am Queen Mary (statue)

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I Am Queen Mary is a statue in Copenhagen, Denmark of Mary Thomas, a leader of the 1878 "Fireburn" labor revolt in St. Croix, a former Danish colony now part of the U.S. Virgin Islands.[1] The statue, created by artists Jeannette Ehlers and La Vaughn Belle, was unveiled in March 2018 outside the Danish West Indian Warehouse, in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the sale and transfer of the Danish West Indies.[2] It is the first public monument in Denmark to honor a Black woman and represent Denmark's colonial past.[3] The statue suffered significant damage during a storm on December 27, 2020, leaving it irreparable. Since then, only the plinth remains, as Belle and Ehlers continue to source a permanent bronze version of the statue.[4][2]

Overview

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At approximately 23 ft (7.0 m) tall, the statue depicts Thomas seated on a throne, staring ahead, with bare feet, a head wrap, a torch in her left hand, and a sugarcane cutting tool in her right hand.[1][5] The torch and sugarcane cutting tool symbolize resistance strategies used in the St. Croix labor riot by enslaved and former slaves in Danish Colonies.[4] The sugar cane cutting tools were knife-like objects given to enslaved people on St. Croix sugarcane plantations to cut off sugarcane stalks at the root.[6][7] The statue's throne design references the iconic 1967 photograph of Huey P. Newton, founder of the Black Panther Party.[5]

I Am Queen Mary is a public artwork that represents Denmark's historical involvement in transatlantic slavery and the resistance by enslaved individuals.[8] The statue provides a visual representation of historical narratives that have been historically marginalized, creating a space for reflection on colonial history and Black resistance.[9]

Design and process

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The sculpture was created through a collaborative process involving Belle and Ehlers working with a team of fabricators and designers.[10] Daviid Ranløv, 3D Printhuset, Teknologisk Institut, and Atelier Angheluta contributed to developing renderings and 3D-printed gesso versions.[11]

The artists created a hybrid representation of their own bodies using 3D body scanning technology to form Thomas' body.[12] The project was conceived as a site-specific intervention, referencing Michelangelo's David sculpture in front of the Danish West Indian Warehouse in Copenhagen, a former Caribbean sugar and rum warehouse, close to the site where Thomas was imprisoned following her arrest during the labor uprising.[13] Early iterations of the sculpture included a whip, which was replaced with a sugarcane cutting tool and torch to emphasize resistance strategies and labor conditions of sugarcane plantations, along with leaving her feet bare.[4][14]

The sculpture was milled from polystyrene blocks at the Wow Factory in Denmark and coated with sealants and paint to ensure durability.[11] The plinth is made of 1.5 tons of coral stones imported from St. Croix, Virgin Islands. These stones were historically cut by enslaved Africans who were sent into the ocean to harvest them.[15] The stones were sourced from historic properties and transported across the Atlantic over a two-and-a-half-month journey, to be cleaned with a solution to remove mold and dirt.[11][15]

References

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  1. ^ a b Sorensen, Martin Selsoe (March 31, 2018). "Denmark Gets First Public Statue of a Black Woman, a 'Rebel Queen'". The New York Times. Retrieved November 18, 2024.
  2. ^ a b "I am Queen Mary Statue in Copenhagen, Denmark". The Contested Histories Initiative. Case Study #49. June 2023 – via Contested Histories.
  3. ^ Doss, Erika (2024-05-07), "I Am Queen Mary, Copenhagen", Breaking the Bronze Ceiling, Fordham University Press, pp. 257–260, doi:10.1515/9781531506414-020, ISBN 978-1-5315-0641-4, retrieved 2024-11-18
  4. ^ a b c "I Am Queen Mary". I Am Queen Mary. Retrieved 2024-11-18.
  5. ^ a b "I Am Queen Mary, Denmark's 1st Public Monument Honoring a Black Woman, Recalls a Fierce Rebel". The Root. 2018-04-02. Retrieved 2024-11-18.
  6. ^ "The Plantation System". National Museum of Denmark. Retrieved 2024-12-02.
  7. ^ Dixon, Euell A. (2020-09-12). "The Fireburn Labor Riot, Virgin Islands (1878) •". Retrieved 2024-12-02.
  8. ^ Grøn, Helene (2022-05-19). "I am Queen Mary: On sustained protest and Denmark's 'colonial amnesia'". Performance Research. 27 (3–4): 161–166. doi:10.1080/13528165.2022.2155428. ISSN 1352-8165.
  9. ^ Odumosu, Temi (2019-09-03). "What Lies Unspoken: A Remedy for Colonial Silence(s) in Denmark". Third Text. 33 (4–5): 615–629. doi:10.1080/09528822.2019.1654688. ISSN 0952-8822.
  10. ^ "Artists in Conversation: I Am Queen Mary". Barnard Library. Retrieved 2024-12-02.
  11. ^ a b c "Process". I Am Queen Mary. Retrieved 2024-12-02.
  12. ^ Cramer, Nina (2018-10-01). "I Am Queen Mary: An Avatar in the Making". Peripeti. 15 (29/30): 146–155. doi:10.7146/peri.v15i29/30.109639. ISSN 2245-893X. S2CID 192353578.
  13. ^ Ehlers, Jeannette; Belle (2018-03-31). "I Am Queen Mary (Copenhagen, Denmark)". Wikipedia Commons. Denmark; Beckett-Fonden; the Danish Agency for Culture and Palaces The Municipality of Copenhagen; Wow Factory; 3D Printhuset; SMK; The National Gallery of Denmark; ActionAid. Retrieved 2024-12-02.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  14. ^ alexander@koal.dk (2021-02-01). "The Black Mermaid". Perspective. Retrieved 2024-12-02.
  15. ^ a b "Break This Down: 'I Am Queen Mary' at Barnard". Barnard College. Retrieved 2024-12-02.
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