A History for the Future
This past semester, Rollins faculty, staff, and students were hard at work uncovering untold histories from the Great Migration for an original art installation coming to campus next year. Legendary voices like Maya Angelou and Langston Hughes are household names, but what about Rita Dove and Countee Cullen? These Black poets are among hundreds of influential figures explored by Rollins faculty, staff, and students for a groundbreaking new project from the famed British-Nigerian artist Yinka Shonibare. Commissioned by Barbara ’68 and Ted Alfond ’68, the final artwork will be part of the Alfond Collection of Contemporary Art and will be installed in 2022 in Kathleen W. Rollins Hall. The visual and historical masterpiece will feature a collection of 600 hardcover books, each bound in dazzling African wax paper and bearing the name of a poet, philosopher, or historian with personal or ancestral ties to the 20th-century Great Migration. Heading up the project is history professor Claire Strom, who assembled an interdisciplinary team of faculty and staff advisors as well as a group of 12 student interns who conducted research throughout the spring semester.
In 2022, artist Yinka Shonibare’s commissioned artwork will be permanently installed in Kathleen W. Rollins Hall. Part of the American Library collection, the final piece will be similar to this installation at the Cleveland Public Library. Yinka Shonibare, CBE | The American Library, 2018 | Hardback books, Dutch wax printed cotton textile, gold foiled names, headphones, interactive application | Dimensions
22 View | Summer 2021 variable | Installation at FRONT International, Cleveland Triennial located at the Cleveland Public Library, Cleveland, OH, 2018
