Faustine, Nona

In her project White Shoes (2012-2021), Nona Faustine makes self-portraits in locations around New York that have undertaught—or untaught—histories of enslavement. In Faustine’s images, the artist is nude except for a pair of white shoes. The white represents whitewashed patriarchal histories, while the careful placement of her body standing in the shoes asserts her place in reclaiming the care denied her ancestors.

About From Her Body Came Their Greatest Wealth, Wall St., NYC, she states: “Slavery was introduced by the Dutch and later the British, then maintained by Americans, from 1626 until 1827. From 1711 to 1762, at 74 Wall St., on the corner between Water St. and Pearl St., was the address of an Enslaved auction site. Established by a Common Council Law on November 30, 1712, slave-owners used it to hire out enslaved people of African and First Nation heritage. In 1726, it was renamed the Meal Market for the grain, corn, and meal that were sold there. Enslaved people came off the ships docked at nearby slips and were sold at this location. They could be bought and sold throughout New York City, in hotel lobbies, coffee houses, and everywhere in between. Enslaved people cleared the forests, built the roads and buildings, built forts and the wall that gave Wall St. its name. Human beings were the first commodity of the greatest finance capital in the world.”

Nona Faustine was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY, where she has continued to work. She received her BFA from the School of Visual Arts, New York, NY, and her MFA from the International Center for Photography, Bard College of New York, New York, NY in 2013. Solo exhibitions have been held across New York, including in the International Center of Photography, the Institute of Fine Art, Higher Pictures, Syracuse University Art Museum, and Brooklyn Museum of Art.