Vessels of Slavery: Forget Me Not travels to the Lynn Museum & Arts Center through July 2026
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contact: Miranda Aisling
Email: miranda.aisling@gmail.com
Phone: 203-979-9268
Vessels of Slavery: Forget Me Not travels to the Lynn Museum & Arts Center through July 2026
GLOUCESTER & LYNN, MA – Slavery is a subject of sorrow and humiliation for everyone. How do we face this legacy today? How do we come to terms with it? How do we heal from it? These questions and more are explored in Vessels of Slavery: Forget Me Not, a traveling public history exhibition created by artists IlaSahai Prouty, Christle Rawlins-Jackson, and Susi Ryan and currently on view at the Lynn Museum & Arts Center through July 16, 2026.
The exhibition was designed to create ongoing and expanding opportunities for people in Massachusetts and across New England to face and process the lives of enslaved people in the region and the local impact of the history of slavery in a safe but proactive environment. The artists were brought together by the work of Doris Prouty, an African American quilter who made Gloucester her home for nearly 50 years, when her work was exhibited posthumously at the Cape Ann Museum in 2022.
“Creating Vessels of Slavery was a labor of love, and it’s gratifying to see the project continue its journey around New England,” says IlaSahai Prouty. “Each sail quilt tells a story of Cape Ann, but also points to the wider story of enslaved people and slavery in New England.”
Vessels of Slavery: Forget Me Not grew out of a collaborative public history project originally conducted by the artists from 2022 to 2024 at the Cape Ann Museum in Gloucester, MA. Six quilted sails tell the stories that these artists found in the archives and invite viewers to reflect on the legacy of slavery in their communities. Visitors enter the exhibit through colorful ancestral fabric panels that are representative of the Egúngún of Yorubaland in Nigeria. The research and the initial outdoor exhibition at the Cape Ann Museum Green in August 2024 were funded by the MassHumanities Expanding Massachusetts Stories Grant.
From 2022 to 2024, the artists conducted their research and held community conversations in Cape Ann. Prouty, Rawlins-Jackson, and Ryan brought their perspectives as descendants of people once enslaved in America to their work in the archives and in the studio. The project moved through four cycles, each rooted in a week-long stay in Gloucester: Reclamation, Trade Winds, Persistence, and Honoring. During each cycle, the artists conducted intimate investigations utilizing the resources of the Cape Ann Museum Library & Archives and invited the community to consider the stories of the enslaved people of Cape Ann and the legacy of the slave economy for Cape Ann’s seaports. Parallel to their research, the artists opened conversations with and between community members and institutions, holding space within the collective for acknowledging, grieving, honoring, and celebrating the enslaved and freed people of Cape Ann.
“We have made a powerful statement that cannot be ignored,” explains Christle Rawlins-Jackson. “By combining traditional textile techniques with historical references, we honor the resilience and humanity of those whose lives were constrained by slavery while acknowledging the ways their labor contributed to the foundation of Cape Ann, Lynn, New England, the U.S., and the world.”
The artists received a second grant from MassHumanities in 2026, the Story Forward Grant, which enabled the exhibition to travel to Lynn. During this exhibition at the Lynn Museum & Arts Center, the artists are working with a research fellow and museum staff to expand their work from Cape Ann to include stories and history from Lynn. As the exhibition travels across the state, the artists hope to encourage their partners to expand their own story-telling around the history of enslavement across Massachusetts.
“‘Vessels of Slavery’ offers a profound and necessary look at the hidden histories woven into everyday objects,” says Doneeca Thurston-Chavez, Executive Director of the Lynn Museum and Arts Center. “I was honored to have seen the outdoor installation of ‘Vessels of Slavery’ on the CAM Green, and I had hoped one day the project might be able to travel to Lynn. We are grateful to IlaSahai, Christle, Susi, Miranda, and Mass Humanities for making this next phase of the exhibition possible.”
Lynn Museum & Arts Center Hours
Wednesday: 3-7 pm (Free Admission)
Thursday & Friday: 11 am – 4 pm
Second and fourth Saturdays of each month, free to the public from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
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Vessels of Slavery: Forget Me Not is funded by the MassHumanities Expanding Massachusetts Stories Grant and Story Forward Grant, the Essex Heritage Partnership Grant, and the Cape Ann Museum. The residency stays at Manship Artists Residency were funded by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Prometheus Circle of the Manship Artists Residency, the Revered Anne Deneen, and the Bruce J. Anderson Foundation.
Associated Programming
Wednesday, March 11, 2026 from 5:00 – 7:00 pm
Lynn Museum & Arts Center
Free and open to the public
https://lynnmuseum.org/events/vessels-of-slavery-forget-me-not-artists-opening/
MESA (Museum Enrichment Series for All) Presentation by the Artists
with IlaSahai Prouty, Christle Rawlins-Jackson, and Susi Ryan
Wednesday, April 8, 2026 from 12:00 – 1:00 pm
Virtual Event on Zoom
Free and open to the public
https://lynnmuseum.org/events/m-e-s-a-april-2026/
MESA (Museum Enrichment Series for All) Presentation by Research Fellow
with Ashley Theilacker, Christle-Rawlins Jackson, and Susi Ryan
Wednesday, June 10, 2026 from 12:00 – 1:00 pm
Virtual Event on Zoom
Free and open to the public
https://lynnmuseum.org/events/m-e-s-a-june-2026/
Second Saturday Hands-On Workshop
with Christle-Rawlins Jackson and Susi Ryan
Saturday, June 13, 2026 from 12:00 – 2:00 pm
Lynn Museum & Arts Center
Free and open to the public
Photo credit: Craig Bailey. IlaSahai Prouty, Christle Rawlins-Jackson, and Susi Ryan listening to performers at the Vessels of Slavery opening celebration at CAM Green in August 2024.
