Enfilade

Blinking eyes appear in the windows of Declaration House as part of Sonya Clark’s installation The Descendants of Monticello. Thomas Jefferson resided at the site while writing the Declaration of Independence, together with his enslaved valet Robert Hemmings. The original house was razed in 1883; it was reconstructed in 1975. (Photo by Steve Weinik/Monument Lab).

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From Philadelphia’s Monument Lab:

Declaration House | Sonya Clark’s The Descendants of Monticello
Independence National Historical Park, Philadelphia, 24 June — 1 December 2024

Declaration House is a public art and history exhibition presented by Monument Lab at Independence National Historical Park that explores the site where Thomas Jefferson and Robert Hemmings spent several months in Philadelphia during the drafting of the Declaration of Independence in 1776. The project poses a central question: What does the Declaration of Independence mean to us today? By moving Hemmings to the center of this moment in history, the project seeks to illuminate the entangled legacies of freedom and enslavement at the core of our nation’s founding.

Declaration House presents the exclusive premiere of Sonya Clark’s The Descendants of Monticello, a public artwork that brings the historic house to life through a monumental montage featuring the blinking eyes of Robert Hemmings’ collateral descendants and others who are related to the over 400 people enslaved at Monticello, including descendants biologically related to Jefferson. Declaration House also includes public programs with creative residents Jeannine A. Cook and Ty ‘Dancing Wolf’ Ellis, and a Welcome Station during summer weekend hours at the historic house where visitors are invited to respond to the project’s central question with hand-drawn responses that will be collected by Monument Lab and shared with Independence National Historical Park to inform future programming and reflection ahead of America’s Semiquincentennial in 2026.

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Philip Kennicott wrote about the installation for The Washington Post (12 August 2024). More information, including additional press coverage, is available at Monument Lab.