Historic Stagville presents Whippersnappers, a site specific installation by Library of Congress artist in residence Maya Freelon

Opening Nov. 16 at Historic Stagville, Maya Freelon: Whippersnappers will premiere large-scale sculptures, archival photographs, paintings, and collages that transform the former plantation.

Fully titled Whippersnappers: Recapturing, Reviewing, and Reimagining the Lives of Enslaved Children in the United States, Freelon's first large-scale installation featuring portraiture was born from her research of enslaved children highlighted in the Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Online Catalog. The site-specific installation features new works on view in Stagville's 1799 Bennehan House, the preserved home of the former plantation owners, and the property's barn. Using thousands of pieces of tissue paper in a myriad of ways, Freelon has created a visual dreamscape through large-scale sculptures and quilts all utilizing her signature "bleeding" tissue paper techniques, alongside historical documents from the Library of Congress and other significant archives, and artifacts from the North Carolina Historic Sites Collection. Freelon's installations often play with scale and transform public spaces, including a 2018 monumental sculpture at the Smithsonian Arts + Industries Building and a 2017 outdoor installation in the North Carolina Museum of Art's Museum Park.

"Through Whippersnappers, I want to use the healing potential of art to shine a light on a subject often ignored and reclaim a space that was once used to disempower and oppress," said Freelon. "I want visitors to move through the exhibition and leave remembering the innocence of childhood, which encourages collective healing."

Works on view in the 1799 Bennehan House will span six rooms across two floors. Spaces include the attic, a downstairs room with many uses, including childbirth, and a former office where the names of newborn enslaved children were recorded as property. Whippersnappers reclaims each of these spaces and compels the viewer to acknowledge the children who were historically barred from these homes.

This exhibition is the first site-specific installation funded by the Library of Congress' Connecting Communities Digital Initiative with support from the Mellon Foundation, setting a new standard for engaging with history through art and archives-Freelon was named one of two 2024 CCDI Artists/Scholars-in-Residence. Enlarging these images of children beyond their original sizes, Freelon confronts viewers with their undeniable presence, recognizing the biases and omissions in historical records. Through delicate and natural materials, the subjects of Freelon's artwork appear simultaneously fragile and resilient.

This intentional practice of using found objects and accessible materials can be traced back to her childhood summers spent in Cambridge, MA quilting, painting, and collaging alongside her grandmother Queen Mother Frances Pierce. During this time, Freelon also became close to Pierce's dear friend, Dr. Maya Angelou, Freelon's namesake and one of her first art collectors. These experiences nurtured her artistic skills and rooted Freelon in a tradition of improvisation, extended by the creative influence of her mother, Nnenna Freelon. Her father, Phil Freelon, was the celebrated architect of record for the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture; and her paternal great-grandfather, Allan Freelon, Sr., was an acclaimed artist and educator, active during the Harlem Renaissance. Whippersnappers continues this thread of storytelling, blending past and present.

On view from Nov. 16-Jan. 25, 2025, Whippersnappers is organized by Art on the Land, a North Carolina Historic Sites initiative seeking to activate sites of memory through artistic collaborations, place-based art, editorial offerings, and gatherings. Art on the Land is directed and curated by Director of North Carolina Historic Sites, Michelle Lanier, and Curator-at-Large, Johnica Rivers. On Whippersnappers, Lanier shares: "Maya Freelon's powerful offering to our youngest ancestors will activate Stagville's historic landscapes and interiors with a posture of healing through reclaiming and reframing memory."

Viewing Hours
Whippersnappers will be on view from November 16, 2024, through January 25, 2025, at Historic Stagville, located at 5828 Old Oxford Highway in Durham. Exhibition hours are Wednesdays and Saturdays from 10 am to 1 pm and by appointment. For viewings by appointment, contact [email protected].

Friday, November 15 - Press Preview

The media is invited to attend the press preview for Whippersnappers on Friday, November 15, at 10 am. Please RSVP to [email protected].

Opening Day Events
On opening day, Saturday, November 16, the exhibition will have extended viewing hours from 10 a.m.-3 p.m.; Freelon will be on-site from noon-3 p.m., for an artist roundtable. The public is invited to this free day of activities:

10 a.m.: Whippersnappers opens for self-guided visits through 3 p.m., with Historic Stagville guides and volunteers available to facilitate visitors' experience. In addition to the primary installation in the 1799 Bennehan House, opening day visitors will experience a motion-activated soundscape inside Stagville's massive barn built in 1860 by enslaved artisans and the largest stable in what was, at that time, Orange County. Calling In the Children was created by seven-time Grammy-nominated jazz vocalist Nnenna Freelon and sound artist, scholar, and ethnomusicologist Dr. Allie Martin of Dartmouth College and the Black Sound Lab. The collaboration blends archival sounds, call and response, and jazz music recorded in the space during a pre-opening consecration of the grounds.

Noon: Roundtable discussion with artist Maya Freelon; Director of North Carolina State Historic Sites, Michelle Lanier; and Curator-at-Large, Johnica Rivers.

Community Tissue Quilt Workshop
On Saturday, December 14 from 10 am to 12 pm, visitors are invited to participate in a tissue quilt workshop. Open to all ages, Freelon will lead participants on a transformational, collective art-making journey. Advanced registration is required.

About Maya Freelon
Maya Freelon is an award-winning visual artist whose work was described by the late poet Maya Angelou as "visualizing the truth about the vulnerability and power of the human being." Her artwork was featured on the cover of Walter Magazine and in books Art of the State and Garden & Gun's Southern Women. Cosmopolitan Magazine called her "one of the most badass female artists in the biz". Huffington Post hailed Maya as one of the "30 Contemporary Art Makers Under 40 You Should Know"; and Complex Magazine celebrated her "Making Waves in the Art World."

Freelon's artwork has been commissioned and collected by the National Gallery of Art, North Carolina Museum of Art, National Museum of African American History and Culture, and Phyllis and Ross Escalette Permanent Collection of Art, as well as major corporations and universities including Google, Cadillac, Duke Hospital, Johns Hopkins University and First Citizens Bank. Her monumental tissue paper sculpture, created for Halcyon, was displayed at the Smithsonian Arts and Industries Building. Miami New Times selected her as one of "Five Young Artists to Watch During Miami Art Week 2019" and her unique tissue paper art was praised by the International Review of African American Art as "a vibrant, beating assemblage of color."

Freelon's work has been exhibited internationally, including in Paris, Jamaica, Madagascar, and Italy. She has completed residencies at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Brandywine Workshop in Philadelphia, Queenspace in NYC, University of North Carolina Wilmington, Art on the Vine in Martha's Vineyard, and the Korobitey Institute in Ghana. Freelon earned a BA from Lafayette College in 2005, and an MFA from the School of Museum of Fine Arts, Boston in 2007.

About Historic Stagville
In 1860, Stagville was part of a vast plantation where the Bennehan and Cameron families enslaved over nine-hundred people. Once one of the largest plantations in North Carolina, Historic Stagville now inspires a new understanding of the history of slavery through preservation, interpretation, research, genealogy, and descendant engagement. The historic site preserves a Bennehan family house (c. 1799), the Horton Grove slave quarters (c. 1851), a barn (c. 1860), and 165 acres of land. Historic Stagville is located at 5828 Old Oxford Highway, Durham, NC, 27712. For more information, call 919-620-0120 or visit our website at historicsites.nc.gov/stagville. Follow Historic Stagville on Facebook and Instagram.

About the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources
The N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources (DNCR) manages, promotes, and enhances the things that people love about North Carolina - its diverse arts and culture, rich history, and spectacular natural areas. Through its programs, the department enhances education, stimulates economic development, improves public health, expands accessibility, and strengthens community resiliency.

The department manages over 100 locations across the state, including 27 historic sites, seven history museums, two art museums, five science museums, four aquariums, 35 state parks, four recreation areas, dozens of state trails and natural areas, the North Carolina Zoo, the State Library, the State Archives, the N.C. Arts Council, the African American Heritage Commission, the American Indian Heritage Commission, the State Historic Preservation Office, the Office of State Archaeology, the Highway Historical Markers program, the N.C. Land and Water Fund, and the Natural Heritage Program. For more information, please visit www.dncr.nc.gov.