Peformativity and Place-making in Allen Uzikee Nelson’s sculpture “(Here I Stand) In the Spirit of Paul Robeson” (2000)
by Mark Auslander
One of the most fascinating works of public art in Washington DC towers over “Paul Robeson Triangle Park”, a small park formed by the intersection of Georgia Avenue, Varnum Street, and Kansas Avenue NW” in the Petworth neighborhood, just south of 907 Varnum Street NW. “(Here I Stand) In the Spirit of Paul Robeson”, fabricated in 2000 and dedicated in 2001, is one of the best known sculptures of Allen Uzikee Nelson, a long-time DC artist whose life story is explored in the marvelous documentary, “Uzikee. Washington DC’s Ancestral Sculptor” (Doug Harris, 2021). The sculpture is included in the Guide to DC’s Black Public Art being prepared by Partners for Historical Justice, under a grant from the Tour de Force Foundation of Washington DC.
Allen Uzikee Nelson, 2000, “(Here I Stand): In the Spirit of Paul Robeson”. Petworth neighborhood, Washington DC
The ten foot high piece is composed of weathering steel and stained glass, and has stylized faces on both sides of an upper octagonal element.. The aesthetic is rather reminiscent of the Janus-faced Kota or Hongwe (Gabon) reliquary guardian figures, some of which are located in the collections of the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art, which Uzikee has often visited. (see: https://www.si.edu/object/nmafa_78-14-12) My understanding has been that Hongwe double-facing guardian figurines are oriented both towards the visible world and the world of the invisible powers, serving as portals between spiritual domains and between past, present, and future, binding together those who come before and those who come after. It seems to me that Uzikee has constructed a kind of ancestral shrine, re-planting in effect Paul Robeson as a life-enhancing ancestral presence in a neighborhood of DC with a long history of African American political and cultural vitality. This sense of consecration is enhanced by a halo effect as the sun passes through the thirty-seven or so stained glass elements that surround the two faces of the sculpture, which create a sense of shimmering energy radiating from the heart of the park. With characteristic wry humor, the artist has affixed a sign summarizing the vicious assaults on Robeson’s career and legacies, “Black balled, Red baited, and Whited out.”
As an anthropologist deeply interested in ritual language and aesthetics in Africa and the African Diaspora, I am especially fascinated by the title Uzikee has chosen for the work, “Here I Stand.” The title manifestly refers to Paul Robeson’s 1958 autobiography and manifesto, “Here I Stand” (Othello Books) as well as the 1999 documentary on Robeson of the same name, directed by St. Claire Bourne. Yet the title phrase, “Here I Stand” may also be considered what linguistic anthropologists term a “performative utterance,” a statement that does not simply describe the world but calls certain conditions into being. Performative utterances are often embedded within ritual language, which helps bring about mystical transformations in consciousness, social relationships and the continuum in human-spiritual dynamics. For example, the speech act “I baptize thee” is a performative utterance in that it doesn’t only describe the act of baptizing but brings about the end state of being baptized. “I now pronounce you husband and wife” does not only describe the act of the officiant, but actively help bring the state of being married into reality. “I bless thee” produces the state of being blessed. Similarly, “Here I Stand’ does not only allude to Robeson’s autobiography, it actively constitutes the fact that the sculpture, and in a sense Robeson himself, now stand over the Petworth neighborhood as a guardian figure, As a ceremonial performative utterance, the phrase helps bring about the state of this ancestral figure once more “standing up” for the values Robeson was committed to in life, including justice, radical inclusiveness, and proud African heritage. This sense of “standing” is presumably extended to the artist Uzikee Nelson himself, a proud cultural activist of African descent and, beyond that, to all members of the community to whom the artist address himself in the neighborhood and in the District of Columbia. All are drawn into the ceremonial field cast by the sculpture, standing tall, here with Paul Robeson and his legacies..
In this sense, the title “Here I Stand” is a performative act of sacred ritual language that helps to re-energize and re-consecrate the land on which the statue stands, (this “here” place) and thus nurtures the African-derived lineage of the District of Columbia, at a historical moment when that lineage, like Robeson’s own legacy, risks being obscured and, in the artist’s terms, “whited out.”
Speculatively, the work’s subtitle “In the spirit of Paul Robeson,” may also refer to one of Paul Robeson’s most beloved recordings, of an old African American spiritual which dates back to the era of enslavement “Every time I feel the spirit/moving in my heart I will pray.” (As explored in the Harris film, Uzikee is descended from Frank Walzer, a famous escapee on the Underground Railroad, and has been deeply engaged with legacies of resistance from the period of enslavement.) The sculpture’s two open mouths, facing north and south, may in effect be singing and praying, and in so doing, animated by Spirit, be continually blessing the community with the words and wisdom of Robeson and the ancestors who came before him.
Rear, north facing face of the sculpture, “(Here I Stand) In the spirit of Paul Robeson.: by Allen Uzikee Nelson, 2000,
Addendum: Description of work
The sculpture is composed of a ten foot high metal column, upon which is placed an octagon with facial features on both sides. The base column has three openings within it: a hollow square, upward triangle, and a rectangle with a diagonal cross affixed within it. (Africanist art historian Al Roberts notes, “The upward-pointing triangle is associated with Baraka blessings and positions of prayer by some mystically inclined Muslims including those of Senegal”.) At the top of the work a facial figure is visible within an octagon shape, in a West African inspired style, evidently based on Hongwe or Kota aesthetics from Gabon. About thirty seven panes of stained glass are arrayed around the periphery. On the front or south-facing side, the facial features–eyes, nose and mouth—are rounded and project smoothly outwards (in a manner that might recall the Mesoamerican Olmec heads in which some Afrocentric scholars apprehend African influences). On the back or nort- facing side, the facial features are more stylized, with straight line designs that may evoke scarification marks.
As of this writing the sign in front of the sculpture is damaged. The wording of the original sign is captured in the the 2021 documentary film by Doug Harris,
Here I stand,
Black Balled, Red Baited & Whited Out
2000
The Spirit of Paul Robeson
April 9, 1898-January 23, 1976
Orator-Valedictorian-All American Athlete-Lawyer-Actor-Singer-Linguist-Union, Civil & Human Rights Activist-Freedom of Speech & Cultural Warrior-Pan Africanist Visionary
“In my music, my plays, my films, I want to carry always this central idea: to be African”
By Allen Uzikee Nelson
Damaged sign at the base of the sculpture, “(Here I Stand) In the spirit of Paul Robeson.: by Allen Uzikee Nelson, 2000, Photo credit: Mark Auslander
Acknowledgement: I am grateful to Dr. Christine Mullen Kreamer (Senior Curator emerita, National Museum of African Art) for suggesting parallels between Uzikee’s work on the Kota/Hongwe reliquary guardian figures in the NMAfA collections.
For Further Reading:
J. L. Austin, G. J. Warnock & J. O. Urmson Performative Utterances In John Langshaw Austin (ed.), Philosophical Papers. Oxford, England: Clarendon Press (1961)
Ruth Finnegan How to Do Things with Words: Performative Utterances Among the Limba of Sierra Leone Man, Vol. 4, No. 4 (Dec., 1969), pp. 537-552 https://www.jstor.org/stable/2798194
Kita Hall, Performativty. Journal of Linguistic Anthropology, Vol. 9, No. 1/2 (June 1999), pp. 184-187
Benjamin Ray. Performative Utterances in African Rituals. History of Religions Volume 13, Number 1 Journal of Linguistic Anthropology, Vol. 9, No. 1/2 (June 1999), pp. 184-187 (4 pages)