By Paul Goldfinger, Photographic Editor at Blogfinger.net 2016
Sojourner Truth was a runaway slave, an abolitionist, a feminist and an orator. She used photography to finance her activities. In the 1850’s, carte de visites were popular–a form of calling card. A photograph (albumin print) would be mounted on a 4 1/2 x 2 1/2 cardboard card. Ms. Truth’s cards had her picture on it which included her motto: “I sell the shadow to support the substance.” She sold them by mail and at her lectures.
A new exhibit will be shown at the Berkeley Art Museum and the Pacific Film Archive (California) called “Sojourner Truth : Photography and the fight against slavery.” It will run from July 27 to October 3.
This is from the exhibit brochure: Truth could not read or write, but she had her statements repeatedly published in the press, enthusiastically embraced new technologies such as photography, and went to court three times to claim her legal rights. Uniquely among portrait sitters, she had her photographic carte de visites copyrighted in her own name and added the caption “I Sell the Shadow to Support the Substance. Sojourner Truth, foregrounding her self-selected proper name, her agency, and her possession of self.
COUNTERPOINT “Ezekiel Saw the Wheel.” from Let Me Fly: Music of Struggle, Solace, and Survival in Black America.