THE MIDDLE PASSAGE PROJECT

Project description

The second distance of the triangular route used by Europeans during the trans-Atlantic slave trade. The voyage slave ships sailed carrying human cargo from African shores to the shores of the Americas is known as the Middle Passage.

The Middle Passage Project is a temporary indoor installation inspired by African people’s experiences during middle passages.  The Middle Passage was a wretched experience for an estimated 15 million Africans bound to the "New World” as slaves between the 17th and 19th centuries. Records show as many as 50 million indigenous people were forcibly removed from the African continent during the five centuries of slave trading. Maybe only the former number survived. The Middle Passage Project includes presentation of historical facts about the slave trade, significant objects, and a large-scale labyrinth. 

In scale, the total installation requires a minimum of 950 square feet by 10 feet high.  The facts presented are reproductions from text, photographs, and charts.  Objects are two-dimensional and three-dimensional original artwork.  The labyrinth creates an experience of the unknown, a sensory experience excluding sight.  This enclosed structure includes sensory devices to engage sound and smell, with temperature changes and obstacles. The sounds and smells are those that are referential to the one that may have been encountered during the tumultuous Atlantic voyages.

The objective of the Middle Passage Project is for audiences to journey through the Middle Passage, incorporating the known (facts) and unknown (labyrinth experience).  This installation induces the audience to have a challenging visual and emotional encounter with the environment created and the aesthetics, which have been inspired by the dramatic history of the Middle Passage ordeal. This installation is also open to a performance piece, original music, and choreography. In addition, a video and audio component is included.