THE MIDDLE PASSAGE PROJECT

COMPONENTS

The MIDDLE PASSAGE PROJECT as an installation consists of three independent phases. Each can operate as a stand-alone exhibit. At each exhibit site the walls should be draped in black as a memorial to the experience of the Middle Passage voyage.

PHASE I, THE MIDDLE PASSAGE

Phase I consists of information about the Middle Passage and the slave trade .The focus of this information includes; trade routes, sale prices, typical loading procedures and with the main concentration of facts on the resistance put up by Africans against their forced removal.  This presentation will be in the form of blow-ups of texts, photographs, original construction drawings of the maze/labyrinth structure.

Other 2d and/or 3d original work can be included to fit each site, given available space. A sound track for the labyrinth is included with Phases I. This sound -track is the reflection of the audio experience of Africans leaving their homeland, the voyage, and the resistance that might and in many instances did take place.

PHASE II, THE DOORWAY OF NO RETURN

Phase II consists of the Doorway of No Return, and other 2 and 3 dimensional original work. The Doorway of No Return (DOR) is a structure meant to be the entrance to the labyrinth.

The DOR (a passageway from the holding cells) is a place referenced in the slave trade on Gorée-Island off Cape Verde. It was an important selling station for the Atlantic slave trade, La Maison des Esclaves (House of Slaves) the last Africa domides of perhaps millions of slaves, is a central courtyard surrounded by groups of tiny cells; it still exists and is a grim reminder of a sad history.  The DOR, shown independently, will feature a bas-relief on the rear representing the struggles of the captured African people bound for the Middle Passage. Phase I and II can be exhibited together.

PHASE III, THE LABYRINTH

Phase III is a labyrinth that requires at least 950 square feet of floor space with a 12-foot ceiling minimum vertical height. Additional footage is needed for any of the accompanying factual information and original artwork in phases I and II. The labyrinth can be installed by itself with the stated purpose of the experience of the unknown.