As part of my MLK weekend celebration, I visited the Neill-Cochran House Museum.
Here’s how I know I’m not a journalist: of all the pictures I took on the inside of this house museum, I took nary a picture of the outside of the museum.
Throughout the museum, there were porcelain art pieces.
Had I actually read the signs that I took pictures of throughout the house, I would’ve made sure to take more than a mental picture of all the objects mentioned.
Hiding a gun in a Bible? How Texan.
Of course, this was my favorite room.
I figured I could’ve used the materials to add to the word wall installation.
Yet I felt more in the mood to take pictures than anything else.
Without really saying, “Build a wall,” this decorative wall of words repurposed that chant.
The following was my favorite construction:
How serendipitous that two girls entered this room when I did.
Throughout my tour, I made sure not to include other people in my shots. I felt these young ladies were appropriate to the photo composition.
This porcelain piece, which represented the doll Topsy Turvey, stimulated so many thoughts:
the black doll following a European standard of beauty with blue eyes; the capitalist’s pursuit of money covering their bases with a black and a white doll; how black and white people fates are invariably intertwined; how these dolls represented the enslaver’s half daughters.
Too bad every trip to a museum doesn’t conclude with a live performance like this one.
The contemporary griot entertained us with a humorous and lively narrative, detailing the history of the house. Mainly how the whites who owned it and the architect who designed it are known, but the nameless faceless slave labor will only be known by creating such a long-lasting work of beauty.