Finding Cato Vernon in Photography Artist Talk with Dominique Sindayiganza

While creating the Cato Vernon Freedom Library, Lead Artist and Photographer Dominique Sindayiganza visited sites in Rhode Island where Cato Vernon may have been. As he photographed these places which are now often manicured, leisurely, and serene, he wondered what Cato’s view would have been — did this tree see Cato when it was an acorn? Does the mitochondria still hold his memory? Is his presence in this view, even with jet skis, tennis courts, and high schools here now? Despite the peace of these places today, Dominique imagined the battlefields, enslavement, imprisonment, and war that Cato would have seen. The more images he took, the more he felt Cato Vernon.

This talk between Dominique and lead artist Rebecca Noon will illuminate the ways photography, memory and place influenced how we created the Cato Vernon Freedom Library.