I want to take a minute to give attention to the artwork here before us.
I commissioned this work to my daughter Chastity Hyman, a rising sophomore BFA Studio Art major in the Hixson-Lied School of Fine and Performing Arts at the University of Nebraska Lincoln. My daughter created this work after I provided several things that would help frame her artistic approach.
What were those things?
- link to Moses Grandy’s narrative of enslavement.
- George D. Thompson’s Likeness
- An image of Moses Grandy’s direct descendant Eric Anthony Sheppard who is also a heritage curator based in Suffolk VA
- And a storymap I created that discusses the enslaved world of the Great Dismal Swamp- a place where for so many years Moses Grandy labored in bondage while on a search for freedom for him and his family.
The painting is titled “Moses Grandy Tells his Story” and it is the only known depiction of Grandy providing his testimony to be taken down by George Thompson, amanuensis.
I am very proud of my daughter for completing this work.
Christy Hyman 