Taylor Spence

(Verso) Sources: The Bible, Genesis 3:7 “Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked;” https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Genesis-Chapter-3/

Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia, Electronic Edition (Philadelphia: Prichard and Hall, 1788) 147-8, https://docsouth.unc.edu/southlit/jefferson/jefferson.html

“[Jefferson responding the question “Why not retain and incorporate the blacks into the state . . .?” His negative answer (Jefferson did not believe that African slaves could be incorporated into American society), included the following: “—To these objections, which are political, may be added others, which are physical and moral. The first difference which strikes us is that of colour. Whether the black of the negro resides in the reticular membrane between the skin and scarfskin, or in the scarf-skin itself; whether it proceeds from the colour of the blood, the colour of the bile, or from that of some other secretion, the difference is fixed in nature, and is as real as if its seat and cause were better known to us. And is this difference of no importance? Is it not the foundation of a greater or less share of beauty in the two races? Are not the fine mixtures of red and white, the expressions of every passion by greater or less suffusions of colour in the one, preferable to that eternal monotony, which reigns in the countenances, that immoveable veil of black which covers all the emotions of the other race? Add to these, flowing hair, a more elegant symmetry of form, their own judgment in favour of the whites, declared by their preference of them, as uniformly as is the preference of the Oranootan for the black women over those of his own species. The circumstance of superior beauty, is thought worthy attention in the propagation of our horses, dogs, and other domestic animals; why not in that of man?” pp147-8

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This painting depicts an enslaved person named Sandy, for whom there exist exactly three archival references, none of which are images.

The first comes from Thomas Jefferson’s financial records pertaining to his dealings with the Jefferson Family. It reads:

“To hire for Sandy from my father's death 1757 to Dec. 31, 1762 5 ½years @ £18"

The second comes from a 1769 advertisement, and reads as follows:

“Run away from the subscriber in Albemarle, a Mulatto slave, called Sandy, about 35 years of age, his stature is rather low, inclining to corpulence, and his complexion light; he is a shoemaker by trade, in which he uses his left hand, principally, can do course, carpenters [sic], work, and is something of a horse jockey; he is greatly addicted to drink, and when drunk is insolent and disorderly, in his conversation, he swears much, and in his behavior is artful and knavish. He took with him a white horse, much scarred with traces, of which it is expected, he will endeavor to dispose; he also carried his shoemakers [sic] tools, and he will probably endeavor to get employment that way. Whoever conveys the said slave to me, in Albemarle, she’ll have 40 s. reward, if taken up within the county, 4 l. If elsewhere within the colony, 10 l. If in any other colony. From
Thomas Jefferson.”

The third again comes from Jefferson’s own accounts, January 29, 1773:

"To negro Sandy sold to Colo[nel] Charles Lewis £100."

To recap: Jefferson rented Sandy out after inheriting him from his father for the consideration of £18, after which, presumably, the slave was returned to work for him. Then, Sandy escaped with a white horse, and later Jefferson apprehended and sold him.

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Can You Hear IT? oil on marouflaged canvas, 40' x 10', University of New Mexico Department of Information Technology, Albuquerque, New Mexico, 2020

Can You Hear IT? oil on marouflaged canvas, 40' x 10', University of New Mexico Department of Information Technology, Albuquerque, New Mexico, 2020

Can You Hear IT? oil on marouflaged canvas, 40' x 10', University of New Mexico Department of Information Technology, Albuquerque, New Mexico, 2020

Can You Hear IT? oil on marouflaged canvas, 40' x 10', University of New Mexico Department of Information Technology, Albuquerque, New Mexico, 2020

Can You Hear IT? oil on marouflaged canvas, 40' x 10', University of New Mexico Department of Information Technology, Albuquerque, New Mexico, 2020

Can You Hear IT? oil on marouflaged canvas, 40' x 10', University of New Mexico Department of Information Technology, Albuquerque, New Mexico, 2020

Can You Hear IT? oil on marouflaged canvas, 40' x 10', University of New Mexico Department of Information Technology, Albuquerque, New Mexico, 2020

Can You Hear IT? oil on marouflaged canvas, 40' x 10', University of New Mexico Department of Information Technology, Albuquerque, New Mexico, 2020

Can You Hear IT? oil on marouflaged canvas, 40' x 10', University of New Mexico Department of Information Technology, Albuquerque, New Mexico, 2020

This mural employs the idea of the network as a conceptual interface with archival images. Early networks included large mainframe computers and ancillary hardware like printers, telephones, and fax machines. Today, the variety of elements making up a network are numerous and ever growing. Computer power is in fact based in networks. Paralleling hardware networks are social networks: the connections and relationships people form in the analog and the digital. A social network begins with the primary relationships of one person, and branches out to include secondary relationships contacts have with each other, and even tertiary relationships: friends of friends of friends. Social networks mirror I.T. networks to a degree, but the internet enables bridging to occur between unrelated members of a social network, and between networks, which is impossible for analog networks. Internet connectivity is unlimited. I.T. is thus a way to describe a framework encompassing the wired, the wireless, and the relationships crisscrossing around and between the two.

Various software platforms (OpManager, Ipswitch, Lucidchart, etc.) map I.T. networks into three-dimensional images called network diagrams or network maps (see examples). Network diagrams use a series of standard symbols (largely created by the company Cisco) to represent hardware and wireless capabilities, such as handheld devices, computers, cloud storage and firewalls. In the social arena, network symbols can be names, faces, internet handles, or GPS coordinates, etc. Both computer and social media network diagrams represent computer hardware, wireless, and/or social networks in three dimensions, so that I.T. builders, managers, and security teams can conceptualize, monitor, and secure networks. Using the electric connectivity of the I.T. network, these software can “discover” elements in a network in real time and manifest them on a screen, indicating if there are breaks in the network, as well as how and where individuals are connecting. Social network diagraming reveals when, how, and with whom people are connecting, and can be very useful for revealing the connections between contacts (or lack thereof), information which politicians and other network capital forms use for relationship building. Network diagrams can be simple, with just a few elements. Or they can be complex, with millions of hardware nodes. Network diagrams give I.T. managers a “macro” view of network connectivity in order to protect individual “micro” experiences with their devices or the internet. It is the I.T. manager’s job to see and understand the larger system, and to protect and shepherd hundreds and even millions of individual users as they roam the network. I.T. managers see and understand an important truth about the human condition: we are all connected.

I have produced a series of rubber stamps of I.T. network symbols, and with these stamps I have painted the water media studies for the mural. I will also paint the mural in the same way, with a larger set of stamps. Painting images with network symbol stamps, and then drawing the contours of images with lines between various aspects of I.T., replicates I.T. network diagrams. This technique makes the claim that today we are in fact made up of I.T. These images embody I.T. They also remind viewers that we are the sum of our connections. Each of us is a “we.” By means of I.T., we are all kin.

Can You Hear IT? oil on marouflaged canvas, 40' x 10', University of New Mexico Department of Information Technology, Albuquerque, New Mexico, 2020

Can You Hear IT? oil on marouflaged canvas, 40' x 10', University of New Mexico Department of Information Technology, Albuquerque, New Mexico, 2020

Can You Hear IT? oil on marouflaged canvas, 40' x 10', University of New Mexico Department of Information Technology, Albuquerque, New Mexico, 2020

Can You Hear IT? oil on marouflaged canvas, 40' x 10', University of New Mexico Department of Information Technology, Albuquerque, New Mexico, 2020