Art Seen: African American Church Fans

Welcome back artsy readers!  In today’s news I would like to discuss the current exhibition happening on North Campus in the Slusser Gallery in the School of Art and Design.  I know many of you students out there have probably never ventured to North Campus, but you should, for there is a world to discover.

The exhibition is titled Creators Collect and it represents the collections of the School of A&D’s staff, from bones to comics to African American Church fans.  The special note about this exhibition is a glimpse into perceptions about value.  What is valued in our society?  Do these works of art tell a new or different story that alters the perceptions of those societal values?  The display of what may seem like random items all tell the individual story of histories and hobbies.  While these are individual collections, the exhibit is so profound because it places the viewer in different contexts with these material objects.  Removing yourself from material culture, as this exhibition does, and placing you before a recognizable object but blurring the normative function and role that that object has played in your existence is a unique experience in itself.

An example of this powerful reversal is seen in Marianetta Porter’s display of African American Church fans.  Here Marianetta has removed an everyday object, the fan, from its intended purposes and connotations to tell a history of African American culture in the United States.  When her interest was sparked in African American fans the results she came across while researching these material objects were limited and few.  This in itself surprised her and pushed her to uncover the truth behind these objects and their whereabouts.  On display are about 15 fans she has collected.  People who had their own collections sent some to her, once they heard about her interest, while others she accumulated along the way.

The fans are made out of a sturdy cardboard like substance attached to what looks like a Popsicle stick.  The fans’ function was to keep people cool during church.  Many people had their own personal fans they would bring with them every Sunday, but fans were also distributed before the service started.  These fans not only carried a functional role, but also displayed advertisements, were used as a surface for taking notes while in church, as well as a place to depict images of African American culture.  The fans on display range from the 1950’s to present day.  Like many objects that stand the test of time, parts of them transform while keeping the whole intact.  The changes seen in these church fans are in the images that take up one side of the fan.  The fans produced during the 1950’s are images of an African American family with a Mom, Dad and two children.  There are also pictures of an African American child next to a dog and an image of an African American Jesus.  These images mirror white portrayals during the time, and point to the fact that the people who were making these fans for African American churches were also disseminating them to white churches.  A more contemporary image shows President Obama.

Porter has taken an everyday object and displayed it to present viewers with a new way of thinking.  She is also telling a history that she values as an African American and wants to share with others.  Her collection is thought provoking, historical, and yet present all at once.  A true work of art, no doubt.