By Suzanne Révy
The most stirring accounts of history are often revealed in the stories of ordinary people caught up in the tumult of social and political upheaval. In his solo exhibition, Hiding in Place, photographer Amani Willett envisions the arduous journeys of enslaved people who escaped along the Underground Railroad, the 19th century network of secret routes and safe houses that led fugitives to freedom. Currently on view at Abakus Projects in Boston through November 24th, 2024.

Feature Image: “Hiding Place, Cambridge, MA” by Amani Willett, 2011, from the series Hiding in Place, courtesy of the artist and Abakus Projects, Boston, MA.

“December 8th 1855, Gilpin’s Point, Tuckahoe Forest, Caroline County, MD” by Amani Wilette, 2011, from the series Hiding in Place, courtesy of the artist and Abakus Projects, Boston, MA
This intimate show of large color prints is infused with detailed captions and historic ephemera that deepen the work with layers of meaning. One strikingly colorful image made at night in Cambridge, MA is rumored to be the hiding spot of a fugitive slave who eluded capture while traveling between Boston and Cambridge. Regimented trees at Gilpin Point stand where Joseph Cornish hid overnight before meeting a boat that would take him to Baltimore. Adding to the sense of danger, Willett displays copies of advertisements offering rewards for the return of escapees to their bondage.

“The Great Dismal Swamp National Park, North Carolina/Virginia Border” by Amani Willett, 2011 from the series Hiding in Place, courtesy of the artist and Abakus Projects.

“Night Crossing, Susquehanna River, Outside of Columbia, PA” by Amani Willett, 2011, from the series Hiding in Place, courtesy of the artist and Abakus Projects, Boston, MA
We learn from the caption next to a photograph of a bridge in the Great Dismal swamp that this area on the border between North Carolina and Virginia became home to “maroon communities.” These hidden, largely self-sufficient towns were reported to have some 50,000 residents. That bridge becomes a symbol of the passage between the yoke of subjugation and the sweet liberation of the self. A nighttime image of the shallow blue waters of the Susquehanna River near the Mason-Dixon line evokes a sense of trepidation and longing. And though the landscapes do not reveal the particular stories within the image itself, they make you wonder, if the trees, grass or water could talk… what might they tell us?

“Night Escape” by Amani Willett, digital rendering with AI, from the series Hiding in Place, courtesy of the artist and Abakus Projects, Boston, MA.
In a bridge between the past and present, Willett also created a set of pictures generated through Artificial Intelligence to imagine slaves along their escape routes. Prompting historic accounts to generate several digital renderings, he has constructed images that are smaller in scale and somewhat strange in their details. Hands and faces or even the bark on a tree appear off, not quite photographic, but not quite illustrative. Oddly, they remind me of the fifties-era illustrations from a children’s Bible my family owned. I wonder how this technology will have us rethinking the truth – past or present – as it inevitably becomes more sophisticated.
For more information: https://www.abakusprojects.com/