Artist’s ‘Bloodlines’ an enduring legacy

Los Angeles artist Toni Scott incorporates her mixed African- American and Native American ancestry into art to show the rich legacy and heritage of her nation. PHOTOS PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY

“Learning of my own heritage has inspired me to give life to the lost images and events of history, and call attention to the long-forgotten victims of slavery in America, and the genocide of millions of Native Americans, while also sharing the cultural richness of African and Native American people,” said Los Angeles artist Toni Scott at the Arthur M. Sackler Museum of Art and Archeology in Beijing.

Scott is an artist of mixed African American and Native American ancestry. In the United States, she is known for her Bloodlines exhibitions, which evokes the memories of slavery and its legacies in the US.

Paul Von Blum, senior lecturer of African American Studies and Communication Studies at UCLA, said Scott is committed to bringing the tragic story of the African American experience to her viewers and instills in viewers a deeper historical consciousness.

The Bloodlines exhibitions wove together the brutal history of slavery with personal narratives and genealogical information and tracing her ancestry to the late 1600s. It has traveled across the United States and exhibited for three years at the California African American Museum.

The cultural value of her work attracted the Dame Jillian Sackler International Artists Exhibition Program and sponsored to present her first exhibition in China, titled DNA - Bloodlines and The Family of Mankind, from July 4 until Sept 27.

For the program, Scott has been able to stay for a month in Beijing. Miguel Benavides, the vice-president of The Studio, who is also the exhibition curator, said Scott was chosen for her powerful presentation of Native American and also African American culture.

“The exhibition reminds us of what happened in the past, but also will showcase the present and future on Native American lives,” Benavides said. “The exhibit will be a celebration of the human spirit and the will to live and prosper in a humane social and multi-cultural world.”

Following the theme of Bloodlines, Scott’s Beijing show presents her in-depth research on the 500 years of her family history and events that shaped it, including the slavery history.

In the main gallery of the museum at Peking University, an installation of 8-meter-long ship floating in the air, which are made up of 500 images of slaves.