In conjunction with the Alabama Contemporary Art Center (ACAC), Tony Bingham’s project will focus on engaging the people of Africa Town and the surrounding Mobile Bay community to reflect on its heritage through sculpture, photography, oral history, and animation film. Africa Town is the landing site of the Clotilda, the last slave ship to enter the United States, the remains of which were uncovered in the waters of Mobile Bay in 2020. Bingham will engage with the community directly to document the rich history of Africa Town through a series of photographs using cameras constructed from the discarded plantation lumber, a stop-motion animation film, and cast metal “communion vessel” sculptures. Multiple site-visits will be scheduled throughout the project to give the community ample voice in shaping their own image and directing what aspects of their story bear telling. The project will culminate into a full exhibition at ACAC (less than 3 miles from the Africa Town community) in May of 2022, and satellite displays and programming in the Africa Town and Prichard Recreation centers.
Image: Tony Bingham, Ancestral Light Capture (series), 2020. Pinhole photograph. 11 x 14 in. Courtesy of the artist.