The St. Croix Archaeological Society’s new public program, “Archaeo Café: Digging Deeper, Together,” hosted its first panel discussion at Levels Nightclub in Christiansted on Saturday night. The Archaeo Café offers a unique opportunity to connect researchers and the community through conversations about cultural heritage and archaeological research on St. Croix.
Saturday’s panel discussion topic covered “(Re) Focusing the Past: The Power of Photography,” with a panel of experts in the subject matter. Esteemed photographer Stephanie Chalana Brown, archives specialist David Berg, community archaeologist, President of the Society of Black Archaeologists Alexandra Jones, PhD, and Chief Territorial Curator Monica Marin.
Panelists discussed the vital role of photography in capturing and preserving cultural heritage. From documenting archaeological excavations and uncovering hidden stories in colonial archives to interpreting and recontextualizing the past through visual art, photography has long been a crucial tool in understanding history.
“I am thinking about how all of your work acts as a creative intervention that destabilizes the colonial story of our archives. I’d love for you to each tell me how you use photography to challenge dominant narratives and to promote alternative perspectives about the Virgin Islands’ past?” Marin asked the panelists.
“Not that there isn’t but I did not see in the past I didn’t see a lot of women who were in business, a lot of fathers loving their children, vulnerability with women and their children. I don’t know if it’s because of the assignment that those photographers were given by those who commissioned them, but even bringing into current time I think there was a very male based. Right now, there are major issues. I do not want to take away that there is a documentary style of photography where you shoot exactly what you see. I think photography is an extension of you and when there is a person who has the instrument of the camera and they are using the instrument rather than their soul then there is a play of people who start to curate the images for another generation when the instrument is talking versus another person. Also, who are those persons if they are not rooted in heritage or culture and their responsibility,” Brown said.
Jones then added that, from an archeologist’s research perspective, “We are focused on the object and not the actual person.”
“I’m repositioning the narrative; I’m positioning the narrative where the archeologist is the focus. The person who is using the knowledge and pulling the knowledge together. Who is doing the work and uncovering history and heritage. Who is telling us what is going on and pulling it back. For me it’s kind of pulling and recentering what archeology is. How it is looked and recentering how these ‘laborers’ are being visualized and understood in the form of archeology,” she said.
Prior to Berg digging into archives, he focused on individuals who lost the opportunity to tell their stories. In 2017, while in Denmark, he visited the archives and had the opportunity to see what the ancestors looked like, giving them a voice that they had lost.
To become a member of the St. Croix Archaeological Society with an annual fee of $35, contact Pardis Zahedi at pardis.zahedi@gmail.com.
