DuBois Paris Expo Replicas

Artist: Garikai Campbell

This was one of the gifts I was probably most excited about. Since having learned about DuBois's entries in the 1900 Paris Expo, I have been fascinated by the data, art, and context of these pieces. I only produced a few of these, not sure who all would really appreciate them. Hope those who got them did.

This is one that will require a great deal of writing at some point. For now, I will simply share that a couple of years ago, I came across the works of DuBois in the 1900 Paris Expo. The story of how he came to be a part of that expo, what he (and his students) were able to produce... in very short time, how well it did in the Expo, and then how promptly it was unheralded and lost in the US is an extraordinary story.

I need to refresh my memory on the details about this, but I understand that had it not been for a Black clerk, these works could easily have been lost for good. Thankfully, they were sealed away, but not destroyed. I came across the terrific series of articles by Jason Forrest and then, later that same year, got a copy of the book WEB DuBois's Data Portraits edited by Whitney Battle-Baptiste and Britt Rusert. (There is also the book Black Lives 1900: WEB DuBois at the Paris Expo that looks to be worthy of a look.)

I spent some time taking some of the images, like the five above and reproducing them in ways that felt to be authentic in some way. I produced three at about the size they would have been in the Paris expo and had them framed. They sit in my office at UNCA now. The images above are much smaller, printed on A4 size antique, deckle edged paper (to give that feel of being older works).

I am currently working with a colleague at UNCA to produce a more interesting mix of these works with modern technology and new data visualizations. I look forward to sharing the end product of that work, hopefully a little later this year.

Where to buy

• [The Books linked above]

• Library of Congress

Where to buy

• Talk to me :-)