Note to Correspondents

‘The Living Legacy of 30 Million Untold Stories’, Exhibition on Transatlantic

 

Slave Trade Opens at United Nations Headquarters, 22 March

 

The Permanent Representatives of the African Group and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Ambassadors’ Caucus, in association with the United Nations Department of Public Information, will open an exhibition entitled “The Living Legacy of 30 Million Untold Stories” at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, 22 March, in the Main Gallery of the Visitors’ Lobby.

Underscoring the horrors of the transatlantic slave trade and illuminating the living legacy and untold stories of its victims, the exhibition is organized by the Public Information Department in collaboration with Imna Arroyo and Abdoulaye Ndoye, respectively Puerto Rican and Senegalese artists, and Joel Freeman of the Freeman Institute Black History Collection.  The formal opening will be followed by an evening that celebrates African and Caribbean culture and culinary specialties.

Ms. Arroyo’s “Ancestral Memories: Legacy” will be the first of this three-part exhibition.  Composed of five heads made of sculpted paper, five floating boats, six painted cloths, a video and a prayer to the ancestors, this mixed media installation symbolically recreates the transatlantic passage.

Part two is an assortment of artefacts from the privately held collection on the history of slavery and the slave trade.  Created by Mr. Freeman, the entire collection includes more than 3,000 genuine documents and artefacts, many of which will be included in Black History Galleries that the Freeman Institute Foundation is developing across the United States and in selected cities internationally.

The third element, entitled “Pourquoi” (Why), is a large canvas triptych by Mr. Ndoye, who combines writing, drawing and painting to explore the possibilities of what he calls poésie graphique — graphic poetry.  The artist achieves graphic textures reminiscent of ancient documents or archival materials, symbolically depicting how enslaved men, women and children were crammed into slave ships.

On display until 1 May, the exhibition is part of the activities marking the fourth International Day of Remembrance of Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade, designated in General Assembly resolution 62/122.  Other activities include a film screening, a global video conference for teachers, a briefing by non-governmental organizations, a solemn commemorative meeting and a concert in the General Assembly Hall.  (See also Note No. 6295)

For more information, visit http://www.un.org/en/events/slaveryremembranceday.

For more information on United Nations exhibitions, call Jan Arnesen at +1 212 963 8531, or Liza Wichmann at +1 212 963 0089; e-mail arnesen@un.org, or wichmann@un.org; or go to http://visit.un.org.

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For information media • not an official record