Desenkadena (Unchained) (Willemstad, Curaçao)

Desenkadena (Unchained) (Willemstad, Curaçao)

Subject (Topic)
Slavery-Emancipation
Middle Passage
Transatlantic Slave Trade
Slave Trade
Diaspora 
Willemstad, Curaçao

Subject (Object Type)
Commemorative sculpture

The over life-size bronze sculptural group depicts three figures, two men and one woman. As the title of the work, Desenkadena (unchained) suggests, the figures are breaking free from the chains that bind their wrists. The central figure is flanked by a man and woman, both of whom gaze at him as he breaks their chains. The “chain breaker,” a muscular, semi-nude man, stands in front of an anvil. Simon captures the figure mid-swing as he raises a hammer over his head with his right hand. In his left hand he holds iron chains in place with a chisel. The work commemorates the 1795 slave rebellion led by an enslaved person called Tula.

Simon, Nel, 1938-

Pinterest.com

October 17, 1998

To see how the work was made, click here.

JPEG

English

Visual Arts-Sculpture

Tula Monument, 4352+9F Willemstad, Curaçao

Bronze

Renée Ater