ON PERMANENCE
Staghorn sumac, pokeberry and goldenrod were foraged from along the Long Island Sound, on the acre of land the paintings were made on; the rest from nearby sources, including a farmers’ market. Rendered on Eaton’s Berkshire typewriter paper with a “high permanency feature,” these pigments will nonetheless fade, reflecting the ever-changing landscape from which they came.
On or near this acre on August 7, 1797 a fifteen-year-old enslaved Black girl named Minto was murdered.
ON PERMANENCE imagines the possibilities of light she was not permitted to see on the morning of August 8, 1797.
Sources:
[1] Records of the Judicial Department Papers by Subject. Index to Inquests of Connecticut Deaths, 1711-1892.
[2] Orcutt, Samuel, 1824-1893. A History of the Old Town of Stratford and the City of Bridgeport, Connecticut. [New Haven, Conn.: Press of Tuttle, Morehouse & Taylor], 1886, p. 426.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Michael Todd Cohen (aka saltpeter) is a queer writer, artist and adoptee living in New England. He stewards lordship house, a private home with public programs to celebrate and serve the literary community. You can learn more about the artist and his work at michaeltoddcohen.com.