Belle Fleure

Steel slip case of book, engraved title and artist initials (on back)

Manumit, the title means to release from slavery, the Latin form of the word, manmittere is to release from ones hand.

Within the book we find a poem by George Moses Horton “On Liberty and Slavery”.  While still in slavery Horton was the first black slave to ever publish a book of poetry.  This all before he knew how to write.  The images are not speaking directly to issues of slavery for African Americans of that era, but of a more global notion of bondage and longing for liberty.  Hortons’ poem has a way of capturing this essence and I tried to create unique images that would represent each stanza as such.