The Night Shift- Ciaran Finlayson On Bawoud Bey’s “Night Coming Tenderly, Black”
Throughout the 17th and 18th centuries people from Africa were forced into slavery in the American colonies as workers. By the mid-19th century, America’s westward expansion and the abolition movement, people debated over slavery and lead to bloody civil war. In the mid-19th century, Martin Luther King played a key role in the American society. He fought for equality, freedom, peace, and human rights for African Americans. He mentions that, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” “Free at last, Free at last, Thank God almighty we are free at last.” King works super hard, however, the justice, freedom, peace, and human rights are still questionable in today’s society.
Ciaran Finlayson’s article looks deeply into Dawoud Bey’s photograph work series, and deeply reflects the essential meanings of Bey’s work. From Finlayson’s article, we can see that Bey once again depicts the issues that we contained in todays’ society; the lack of freedom of human-beings, society is filled with attacks, and violences. From Finlayson’s description, I noticed that Bey gradually turned away from portraiture and turned toward the social and the historical scene of human confrontation with nature. In Finlayson’s eye, nature has become an image of freedom in the negative, nature becomes the protagonist and reflects the long process of social revolution on the freedom of black men in American. Bey’s works seem to be ecos with Martin Luther King, and wish to have more audience to focus on the issue of African American, and fight for freedom, peace and equality.
Finlayson’ decided to take a close-up look at Bey’s “Night Coming Tenderly, Black” series, 2017, untiled #14 (site of John Brown’s Tannery), and also mentions about untitled # 19 (creek and trees), and untitled #25.
For those photographs, Finlayson described each of them with great amounts of details and how they demonstrated how they are related to the social revolution, also we can see how the scenes we see are closely related to the historical context. In the photograph; the untitled piece #14, we can see an overgrown backyard, a modest farmhouse is bisected by the silhouette of a tree. Just out of reach of its branches, billowing clouds overtake a pocket of sunshine. Finlayson pointed out that from the imagined vantage of fugitive slaves who might have sheltered here. In the piece of #19, we can see marshes, porches, branches, and fences are prominently featured. In #25, we can see gray skies and dark water as seen from the shore. Finlayson described those photographs taken in the day, however, Bey decided to make them in a gray scale so deep and nuanced that their subjects are difficult to see, thus compelling the viewer to move around the work to catch the light in just the way to make out their content. “Night Coming Tenderly, Black” sery presented the past through the careful framing of the present into the historical site, a site that represents the history of African Americans. People throughout time who are observing or experiencing racism and need to understand it on a deeper level. There may not be one specific audience for this type of publication. Therefore, it is for everybody.
“Night”, Finlayson noticed Bey’s intentions are fully realized through his series of “Night Coming Tenderly, Black”, there is a narrative sequence in his work- “wherein the camera creeps out from behind barren, ivy-entwined trees in the rear yard of a farmhouse and toward the open expanse of Lake Erie, the other side of which was beyond the jurisdiction of American slavers” (118, Artforum). His personal narrative reflected the history of slavery, how they are brought in to the land of American continent. Bey targets directly toward the political issues in the American continent, and how American have come a long way in social revolution. Finlayson pointed out that Bey’s intention leads to his final fought for the freedom of black men in America, in summary, Bey’s work calls out, “saved slavery and killed it” .
By looking at Bey’s work, and by reading Finlayson’s review on Bey’s series “Night Coming Tenderly, Black”, as viewers we should all have an understanding of the lives African American are in, no matter is in the past or now. In the past, they were forced to come into the continent as slaves and seek a safe place to live peacefully and freely without violence. Now, African American’s can be creeping out through trees and looking at the other side of the lake and looking for freedom and peace elsewhere, because they have not received the same human rights after centuries of fighting. Thus, Bey’s work does have some historical values, his series continuously reminds us the history of slavery, the suffering of African American, the political and social issues in the society. Bey’s work also reminds of the years of social revolution and it is going to be continuous in society. As a member in this society, we should note that the lives of African American do matter and we all need to pay attention to the inequality they are suffering. We noticed that we should always consider the social and political issues that contained in our society.
sources: Artforum: July/August 2020
