Lefferts Historic House Museum in Prospect Park has its first artist-in-residence.
Adama Delphine Fawundu, a multi-disciplinary artist and a co-founder of Women Photographers of the African Diaspora, will fill the role, according to Prospect Park Alliance.
The artist will be tasked with creating a monumental, site-specific installation to be informed by the research the alliance has conducted into the lives of Africans enslaved by the Lefferts family.
The program is part of the alliance’s ReImagine Lefferts Initiative, which aims to shed light on the resistance and resilience of the Indigenous people of Lenapehoking, whose unceded ancestral lands the house rests upon, and the Africans enslaved by the Lefferts family.
“Prospect Park Alliance’s first ReImagine Lefferts Artist in Residence is a step towards healing deep-seated wounds from our nation’s past,” said Morgan Monaco, president of the Prospect Park Alliance, in a news release.
Between its construction in 1783 and the abolition of slavery in New York in 1827, 25 people enslaved by the Lefferts family at the house have been identified.
Fawundu’s work will include one textile piece for each of them to pay homage to their everyday heroism. The textiles will be installed across the historic house’s Flatbush Avenue facade.
“When the alliance reached out it was so special because we were both on a specific trajectory,” Fawundu said. “My whole existence is based in this neighborhood. The smell of the grass when it rains in the park means so much to me … I have such a history here. It felt very much like a 360 degree event to connect with the ReImagine team here in Prospect Park.”
The installation will debut this spring to coincide with the seasonal opening of the museum.
