Vessels of Slavery: Forget Me Not is a collaboration between artists Susi Ryan, Christle Rawlins-Jackson, and IlaSahai Prouty. Using their collective expertise in community-based art and engagement, quilting, historical research, and individual artistic practices, these artists conducted research and held several community conversations over the past two years. During this period, they developed an outdoor installation which was staged at the Cape Ann Museum Green and explored and interpreted the history of slavery on Cape Ann.
The project moved through four cycles, each rooted in a week-long stay on Cape Ann: Reclamation, Trade Winds, Persistence, and Honoring. The cumulative research and stories on display will feature six large ‘sail-quilts’. During each cycle, the artists conducted intimate investigations in 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.
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.
Vessels of Slavery: Forget Me Not is coordinated and funded by the Cape Ann Museum with support from the MassHumanities Expanding Massachusetts Stories Grant and the Essex Heritage Partnership Grant. The residency stays at Manship Artists Residency are funded by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Prometheus Circle of the Manship Artists Residency, and Revered Anne Deneen.
Read the artists guidebook to the installation.
Image Credit: IlaSahai Prouty, Christle Rawlins-Jackson, and Susi Ryan visit the CAM Library & Archives. Photographs by CAM Staff, courtesy of the Cape Ann Museum.
Fridays at 2:00 p.m. Downtown Campus 27 Pleasant Street, Gloucester, MA Free with General Admission Sign up with Visitor Services at the Front Desk Space is limited What can a house tell us […]
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Saturday, September 12, 2026 10:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. Carlson Education Center, CAM Green 13 Poplar Street, Gloucester, MA 01930 CAM Members $35, Non-Members $45. Registration Required. Discover the power […]
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Sunday 2:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. White-Ellery House, CAM Green 13 Poplar St, Gloucester, MA 01930 Free and open to the public. This is a drop in program and space […]
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Sunday, September 13, 2026 2:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. Auditorium, Downtown Campus 27 Pleasant Street, Gloucester, MA 01930 Registration Required CAM Members $5, Non-Members $15 (includes General Admission). Tickets do […]
Downtown Campus
Thursday, September 17, 2026 and Thursday, September 24, 2026 12:30 p.m. – 1:30 p.m. CAM Education Room Downtown Campus 27 Pleasant Street, Gloucester, MA CAM Members $5, Non-Members (Adult) $25 […]
Downtown Campus
Join us for Cape Ann Museum’s Avery, Gottlieb & Rothko: By the Sea Symposium spanning two days. Thursday, September 17, 5:30 p.m. Friday, September 18, 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. Downtown […]
Downtown Campus
Join us online for Cape Ann Museum’s Avery, Gottlieb & Rothko: By the Sea Symposium spanning two days. The in-person program is now oversubscribed due to tremendous community interest. To accommodate […]
Online
Due to popular demand the keynote lecture on Thursday, September 17th has been moved to the Kyrouz Auditorium at Gloucester City Hall. The full day on Friday, September 18th remains […]
Gloucester City Hall
Fridays at 2:00 p.m. Downtown Campus 27 Pleasant Street, Gloucester, MA Free with General Admission Sign up with Visitor Services at the Front Desk Space is limited What can a house tell us […]
Downtown Campus
Saturday, September 19, 2026 2:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. Livestream Ticketing Options: CAM Members Free, Non-Members $10. Registration Required The in-person program is now oversubscribed due to tremendous community interest. […]
Onlilne
Due to popular demand we were able to open a select number of seats for this lecture! Saturday, September 19, 2026 2:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. Downtown Campus Auditorium 27 […]
Downtown Campus
![Marsden Hartley (1877-1943). Summer Outward Bound, Gloucester, 1931, oil on board. Collection of Cape Ann Museum. Gift of the estate of Robert L. French, 2009 [Accession # 2009.51.9].](https://www.capeannmuseum.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Marsden-Hartley-Dogtown-600x400-1.jpg)
Sunday, September 20, 2026 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. Babson Boulder Parking Cherry Street, Gloucester, MA 01930 CAM Members $15, Non-Members $25. Registration Required On Cape Ann, the name “Dogtown” […]
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