Jeanne Moutoussamy-Ashe and the Last Gullah Islands

Dec 5, 2024–May 2025

A man in a hat steers a small boat near a rocky shore, with trees and calm water in the background.
A man in a hat steers a small boat near a rocky shore, with trees and calm water in the background.

Jeanne Moutoussamy-Ashe, Jake and his Boat Arriving on Daufuskie’s Shore, Daufuskie Island, SC, 1981, printed 2022. Gelatin silver print, 15 × 22 1/2in. (38.1 × 57.2 cm). Whitney Museum of Americna Art, New York; purchase with funds from Donna Perret Rosen and Benjamin M. Rosen 2023.114.6. © Jeanne Moutoussamy-Ashe

On view
Floor 7

Since the early 1970s, artist, activist, and scholar Jeanne Moutoussamy-Ashe (b. 1951, Chicago, IL; lives and works in South Kent, CT) has made photographs that testify to the beauty and complexity of Black life, honoring the rhythms of the everyday and marking important rites of passage for the people who appear in them. 

In 1977, following an earlier six-month independent study in West Africa, Moutoussamy-Ashe traveled back across the Atlantic Ocean to Daufuskie Island, which sits between Hilton Head, South Carolina, and Savannah, Georgia. There and on the other surrounding Sea Islands, she began making photographs among the Gullah Geechee—many of them descendants of the formerly enslaved people who acquired land from white plantation owners when they fled at the conclusion of the Civil War. For Moutoussamy-Ashe, these places, separated by the Atlantic, were inextricably linked, with the Sea Islands representing connective tissue within the Black diaspora; a place shaped by violent centuries of slavery and a community steadfast in the protection and nourishment of its unique culture and people. The Daufuskie Island photographs honor these entwined histories and the artist’s personal perspective. How images are made, cared for, and consumed are enduring concerns for the artist, who maintains, “Photography should force us to question ourselves and to question the environment in which we live.”

Drawn from the Whitney’s collection, this focused presentation includes a selection of Moutoussamy-Ashe’s black-and-white Daufuskie Island photographs and the artist’s related publications. Portraits of children and elders, images of homes and the shoreline, people at work and at rest, and church services together form an impression of a community—and a place—on the cusp of great change. 

Jeanne Moutoussamy-Ashe and the Last Gullah Islands is organized by Kelly Long, Senior Curatorial Assistant.

En español

Desde principios de la década de 1970, la artista, activista y académica Jeanne Moutoussamy-Ashe  (n. 1951, Chicago, Illinois; vive y trabaja en South Kent, Connecticut) ha producido fotografías que dan testimonio de la belleza y la complejidad de la vida de las personas negras, honrando los ritmos de la vida cotidiana y marcando importantes ritos de paso de quienes aparecen en ellas. 

En 1977, después de seis meses realizando un estudio independiente en África occidental, Moutoussamy-Ashe volvió a cruzar el océano Atlántico hasta la isla Daufuskie, situada entre Hilton Head (Carolina del Sur) y Savannah (Georgia). Allí y en las islas marinas circundantes, empezó a tomar fotografías de los gullah geechee, muchos de ellos descendientes de esclavos que adquirieron tierras de los propietarios de las plantaciones tras huir al terminar la Guerra Civil. Para Moutoussamy-Ashe estos lugares, separados por el Atlántico, estaban inextricablemente vinculados y las islas marinas representaban el tejido que conectaba a la diáspora negra. Se trata de un lugar moldeado por siglos violentos de esclavitud y una comunidad firme en la protección y el fomento de su cultura y su gente únicas. Las fotografías de la isla Daufuskie rinden homenaje a estas historias entrelazadas y a la perspectiva personal de la artista. Cómo se crean, se cuidan y se consumen las imágenes son preocupaciones constantes para la artista, quien sostiene que “la fotografía debería obligarnos a cuestionarnos tanto a nosotros mismos como al entorno en el que vivimos”. 

Esta exposición, que toma de la colección del Whitney, incluye una selección de fotografías en blanco y negro de Moutoussamy-Ashe de la isla Daufuskie y publicaciones relacionadas de la artista. Retratos de niños y ancianos, imágenes de hogares y de la costa, personas trabajando y descansando y servicios religiosos forman en conjunto una impresión de una comunidad (y un lugar) en la cúspide de un gran cambio.  

Jeanne Moutoussamy-Ashe y las útlimas islas Gullah está organizada por Kelly Long, asistente curatorial senior.

All

3 / 3

Previous Next

 From the Collection

3

American artists have long engaged with the South Carolina and Georgia Sea Islands through their work, drawn to it by personal or ancestral connections, or by the region’s complex cultural and environmental history. Photographs by Carrie Mae Weems’ show the interplay of Gullah spiritual traditions with the natural environment, while Erin Jane Nelson’s ceramic sculpture functions as a kind of time capsule, encompassing Daufuskie Island’s unique geological history and forecasting its uncertain future in the face of climate change. Explore these works and others from the Whitney’s Collection here.

A woman in a pink blouse and yellow skirt holds a bucket, standing on steps. A child in blue stands nearby. A tree and red roof are in the background.
Etching of a large tree with hanging moss, a person standing nearby. The scene is serene, with detailed shading and a signature at the bottom.
A patterned fabric hangs between trees in a dense forest, creating a contrast with the natural surroundings.
A wooden swing hangs from a tree branch in a quiet, grassy yard surrounded by trees.
A rural scene with trees, a dirt path, scattered hubcaps, and a mailbox on a post.
A little brown house sculpture made of wood and tin.
A person wearing a white dress swimming in a body of water.
Amorphous stoneware sculptures with shells and photographs of trees.

Events

View all

Essay

Seagulls soar over the ocean under a cloudy sky, with waves trailing behind.

More Just and Joyful Futures:
Blossum Robinson’s Daufuskie Island

Read essay

Audio guides

Elderly person with a gentle smile, wearing a simple garment. The black and white photo highlights their expressive eyes and textured skin.
Elderly person with a gentle smile, wearing a simple garment. The black and white photo highlights their expressive eyes and textured skin.

Jeanne Moutoussamy-Ashe, Lavinia “Blossum” Robinson, Daufuskie Island, SC, 1979 (printed 2022). Gelatin silver print, 22 1/2 x 14 15/16 in. (57.2 x 37.9 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; purchase with funds from Donna Perret Rosen and Benjamin M. Rosen 2023.114.1. © Jeanne Moutoussamy-Ashe

Hear directly from artists and curators on selected works from the exhibition.

View guide

Explore works from this exhibition
in the Whitney's collection

View 13 works

On the Hour

A 30-second online art project:
Maya Man, A Realistic Day In My Life Living In New York City

Learn more about this project

Learn more at whitney.org/artport

On the Hour projects can contain motion and sound. To respect your accessibility settings autoplay is disabled.