David Drake
An Enslaved Potters Tale
David Drake’s August 1857 couplet: I wonder where is all my relations/Friendship to all – and every nation drives the collective efforts of this project. Dave’s wondering about his relations under slavery is akin to our wondering about our ancestral links in 2013. Viscerally impacted by the horrors of slavery, Dave found a way to record his story. His pots and the poems he incised on them serve as partial missives to us. His I wonder couplet speaks specifically to us about our torn lineage as we strive collectively to piece it together. This project is a call and response creative cycle. Dave calls out as he looks for his people and we too look back to him to discover and recover our ancestral links. As artists and academics, we join artistic and scholarly forces to apply our wondering and to reply to Dave’s query. This project is our direct address to Dave: We are your relations. We feel compelled and driven to preserve and uphold your legacy. We are here.
