Dr. Dòwòti Désir is an independent scholar: post-modern human geographer, and unintended folklorist. Her Royal Majesty is the Queen Mother of the African Diaspora [Benin Republic] who serves her communities as an educator; priest; photographer and guardian of memory. She is based in New York State, USA.
Interior view of Well of Atonement/Well of Forgetting: The water in the well was tainted with a tranquilizer to prepare the women, children and men deportees. for the Journey to the Point of No Return. Badagry, Nigeria
Exterior view of Well of Atonement/Well of Forgetting located in the Velekete Slave Market holding yard: Badagry, Nigeria
Cap 110: Mémorie et Fraternité created by Laurent Valere, commemorate the tragic event of 3 April 1830 where some 200 Africans being clandestinely trafficked lost their lives in the bay of Point Diamonde. It was unveiled at the 150th anniversary of the abolition of slavery in 1998. ''Anne Caffard, Martinique
The Tree of Return or Abre de Retour, centuries old is the living tree behind the painted cement statue. The tree is a mnemonic device intended to bring the souls of Africans perished in the Great Suffering back to their homeland. Ouidah, Benin Republic
Overview of the, Monument to the 1823 Demerara Rebellion, which is located near the Demerara River. Georgetown, Guyana
Detail of the, Monument to the 1823 Demerara Rebellion. Some 9,000-12,000 enslaved people fought for their full emancipation. Demerara was initially a 17th century Dutch colony. Taken over by the British and then returned to the Dutch. Greater Guyana was under the control of various European colonizers including the French. Georgetown, Guyana
Detail of the National Museum of African American Culture & History by David Adjaye. A reflection of the George Washington Monument is visible on its skin. An ironic juxtaposition given the first president of the United States of America was one of several slave owners to hold office. Washington, DC, USA
"Ancestral Chambers" National Museum of African American Culture & History, Smithsonian Institute, Washington DC, USA
"Little House with a Picket Fence": Among the slave quaters at the Whitney Planation Slavery Museum: Edgard, Louisiana
"Stolen Memories," memorializes a brick removed from the "fattening bins" aka the Barracoons. Such human warehouse were the ugly twin of the horrendous holding cells and dungeons African captives were forcibly housed in on both sides of the Atlantic. Savannah, Georgia
Found below sea-level, the 280 miles long, (East) Sea Wall was a public work project imposed upon and built by Africans to protect the Dutch town from the swellings waters of the Atlantic. Africans were deported to the South American country in the 17th century: Georgetown, Guyana
A rare ground level view of the exposed bed and walls of Canal Walk, a public works project built with exploited African labor at the Shockoe Bottom. Richmond, Virginia, USA
"In the Memory Of" The tombstone of Maria Elizabeth Stowe 1822-1842 located at the Graveyard for Slave and Free Blacks. Located at St. Peter's Church, in was in operation for 200 years between the late 1600's to the 1800s. Africans were segregated for whites even in dead. The site is part of the UNESCO African Diaspora Heritage Trail. St. George's, Bermuda
United Nations Permanent Memorial to the Victims of Slavery & Transatlantic Slave Trade. Designed by Rodney Leon, The "Arc of Return" is part of the call and response African descendants engage in the effort to reclaim spaces of memory. UN Headquarters, New York City
Documenting the spaces African descendant peoples have both marked, and have been impacted by before, during and after the Great Suffering (Maafa) and the Weeping Time, is how I have used my camera to fight for the right to memory (droit de mémorie) in an era determined to deny and erase the his/her/our-stories of Africa.
Go to: “The Work” for more images
No official marker recognizes the Ingenio Boca de Nigua/Chigger, the sugar mill owned by the son of Christopher Columbus, Diego Colón. It was burnt down in 1521 during the first revolt in the Americas led by 20+ Senegambian people. San Gregorio, Dominican Republic
Miradór de Colom/The Vantage Point of Columbia (detail) Barcelona, Spain. Among the hundreds of statutes of Christopher Columbus found around the world. he is valorized by the State but detested by Indigenous and Africans as a genocider. His crimes are not noted on his monuments.
On the side of Martin's Bank, a bas-relief detail of children who represent not only enslaved African but also the future of England : the wealth that would continue to be made via financing the sell of Africans
The representation of a sub-Saharan, youth, is among the figures representing the African continent of the Albert Monument. His placement among the grouping of statutes presents him as naive and still in search of guidance. Intended to be marginalized and obscured, it is extremely difficult to see and shoot the face of the figure. London, England
Royal Albert Monument includes a group representing the continent of Africa. The face of the Black African is not readily visible to the public. It's position re-enforces the invisibility of Africans within the British Emperor following the "scramble for Africa" -- that culminated in the Berlin-Congo Conference of 1883-1884. London. England
The woods of Nova Scotia harbored the newly arrived Black Loyalists. Africans who fought on the side of the British during the American Revolution 1775-1776. Birchtown, Nova Scotia, Canada
A temporary creation by an unknown artist recognizes the lives of largely unknown Africans buried in a mass grave. On a hill just above the site, was a hospital. Clothes pins and ribbons with African names were attached to a nylon filament and wrapped around the tree in their memory Richmond, Virginia
Remnants of a former prison cell in the renamed, Freedom Park. Lagos, Nigeria. the sign at the park does not mention the prison or barracoon of enslaved Africans and later political prisoners.
Deep in the northeastern woods, on the estate of Henry Ward Beecher (brother of American novelist, Harriet Beecher Stowe) is a cave, that was part of the Underground Railroad network. It provided passage and shelter for freedom seekers until the 1827 abolition of African enslavement in New York State. Peekskill, New York, USA
New York Stock Exchange, the wealth of slave trading nations was traded and sold at such places., New York, USA
The statute of President George Washington stands atop the stairs once used as a trading block to sell enslaved Africans. It is part of the complex of the New York Stock Exchange. New York, USA
Narrow window opening at the Children's Cell at the Maison des Eslave, Ile de Gorée, Senegal
Signage of the Children's Cell at the Maison des Esclaves, Ile de Gorée.
Children of African descent were forced into the hard labor of plantation life. Seated inside a church, we see 4 of the dozens of life-size depictions of the numerous children who worked the plantation. They remind us of the thousands of children who worked and died in the south. Whitney Plantation Slavery Museum. Egard, Louisiana, USA
More of the "Children of Whitney" sculptures created by artist, Woodrow Nash at the Whitney Plantation Slavery Museum. Often fully employed by the age of 10, these painted terra cotta figures honor the lives of the 39 children who died at the plantation between 1823-1863. Egard, Louisiana
Saint Domingue/Haiti contributed enormously to the great wealth of France which was evident in the numerous palaces of the country. One of the multitude of lush rooms at the Chateau Fontainebleau. Fontainebleau, France
One of the few depictions of a Black woman actively resisting enslavement. She is depicted on the base of the, Monument of 1823, Demerara Rebellion (detail). Georgetown, Guyana
Spaces unofficially designated; or whose actual history is not recognized; or remain untold by authorities other than local people have profound resonance for me because of the vulnerable nature of memory. As a mother, and an enthroned Queen Mother, another type of site — those documenting the presence of children, and the role of women in struggle and resistance are haunting.
