Details

Object type

sculpture

Title

Echo from the Middle Passage #4

Artist/Maker

Donald Locke maker

Place Associated

USA, Georgia, Atlanta (place made)

Date

2008

Materials

glazed ceramic, artificial fur

Dimensions

overall: 380 mm x 190 mm x 190 mm

Description

A hand thrown glazed ceramic work shaped as a bell or cup without a handle. Rendered in dark metallic colours there is artificial fur around the inside rim of the ceramic and covering the top of the work. A small glazed horn pokes out from the fur.

Donald Locke studied in Scotland at Edinburgh College of Art 1959 - 1964 and returned for further funded residencies in Scotland post studies. Born in Guyana he later lived in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. In Locke’s early work, with the political events taking place as Guyana moved from colonial administration into an independent state, explored colonial violence and recalled the Middle Passage. The term Middle Passage is heavy with historical significance for Caribbean and Black emigrants as it was the leg of the transatlantic slave trade where the enforced crossing over the Atlantic Ocean between the African continent and the ‘New World’ led to enslavement for millions of men, women and children. Later his work delved more widely into Guyanese history: as a creolised nation of Amerindian, Indian, African and European descendants, he began to look towards the presence of pre-Columbian and African cultures in the New World, and mythic and poetic legacies of Guyana.

By the time this work Echo from the Middle Passage #4 was made Donald Locke had been working as an artist for 50 years and his use of materials had returned to involving ceramics. In a talk at the gallery where this work was first exhibited (talk by Donald Locke at Skoto Gallery, New York, 2008, accessed 22 May 2023), Locke spoke about his search for the artwork in the materials and their manipulation in his hands, that would defy a direct explanation. This combination of ceramics and fur can also be seen to reference works by Meret Oppenheim such as Object 1936. His titling however reveals some of the darker thoughts or memories informing the series of works in 2008 that Echo from the Middle Passage #4 is from.

This work continued Donald Locke’s exploration of the legacy of the Middle Passage in the transatlantic slave trade and his understanding of how this legacy and associated memories of it lingered in both Guyana – where he was born – and Atlanta, USA where he lived. The works are not illustrations of these memories or associations of history, but are informed by them while he works with these ideas and sculptural forms to make new work - while at all times fascinated with the materials he is using to achieve the work (in this case glazed ceramic and artificial fur).

Credit Line/Donor

Gifted by Estate of Donald Locke, 2023

ID Number

S.497

Location

Gallery of Modern Art Gallery 4