Rap Research Lab Solo Exhibition #BehindTheScenes
A Visualisation of Authority is a split-flap mechanical sign that periodically displays a book title that established the inaugural subject heading in the Library of Congress' collection of more than 25 million cataloged books.
This artwork was inspired by a conversation from Mark Anthony Neal’s program Left of Black between the host, Dr. Jessica Marie Johnson and Dr. Treva Lindsey @NewBlackMan @jmjafrx @divafeminist.
One of the books on Dr. Johnson’s reading list was Deborah Gray White’s “Ar'n't I a woman?” which created the subject heading for women slaves—Southern States in 1985. (NINETEEN EIGHTY-FIVE !!!)
Here's the video clip of the conversation
I collected and processed the data for A Visualisation of Authority during a fellowship at Library of Congress. As an artist in the archive, my goal was to pressure the idea of The Library as a neutral space, and to complicate its role as a public monument and holder of public memory.
As researcher, my interests centered on the process of archiving the subjective. As education chair, my focus was on The Library’s role in the interaction between electronic and traditional artifactual knowledge.