For artist Toni Scott, the question of where her family is from has no simple answer. Years of comprehensive research conducted by her and her family showed that some of her ancestors were slave-owners, others were slaves, and still others were gifted land by the U.S. government after they marched down the Trail of Tears.
As she learned more about her Muscogee Indian, African and European ancestors, Toni felt increasingly compelled to create art to explore the boundaries of race and identity. She wanted to center her exhibitions around the tension between America as “the land of the free” and its unfortunate history of slavery and genocide.
Host Frank Stasio talks with Toni Scott about what it means to be a tri-racial American in today’s political climate. They also discuss her exhibition “Aswarm With the Spirits of All Ages Here: Inconceivable Spaces of Slavery and Freedom" on view at the Sonja Haynes Stone Center for Black Culture and History at UNC-Chapel Hill until April 30, 2018.
