EVANSTON, IL.- The Block Museum announced the Collection Council’s acquisition of four new works for its permanent collection. These selections—two photographs by Tom Jones and two by Widline Cadet—align with the museum’s new strategic plan, which emphasizes collections-based teaching, interdisciplinary learning, and campus partnerships.

This acquisition results from the Collection Council’s second annual research and acquisition process throughout 2023-2024. The search was guided by the theme of “kinship,” resulting in a pool of artists whose work related to this theme in varying ways—for instance, familial relations, generational relationships and memory over time, and lineage across artistic practices.

This year’s Collection Council was helmed by Lisa Corrin, Executive Director, and Kate Hadley Toftness, Assistant Director of Advancement and Strategic Initiatives. The Council meets virtually throughout the academic year, narrowing down a list of artists and works for potential acquisition. “There was still a sense of everything being very fresh and open to evolution,” says Toftness, “but we were trying to build on the momentum of the first year and show proof of the impact that this could have.”

The Council acquired two works by Tom Jones: Amos Kingsley (2016) and Peyton Grace Rapp (2018). Both photographs are from Jones’s ongoing project Strong Unrelenting Spirits (2015-), a series of large-scale photographic portraits of the artist’s Ho-Chunk community. Beadwork is another aspect of Jones’s artistic practice, which he incorporates into this series of photos: Amos Kingsley and Peyton Grace Rapp are captured against a striking background of white beaded floral designs.

In a virtual studio visit with the Collection Council, Jones emphasized interconnectivity and the importance of familial relationships within Ho-Chunk communities. He explained that his work aims to fill a gap in the cultural landscape of Indigenous representation and counter past harmful, stereotypical depictions.

"This current work is rooted in Ho-Chunk identity. For the past twenty-five years, I have been working on an ongoing photographic series on the Ho-Chunk Nation of Wisconsin. First and foremost, I am ever mindful of my responsibility to my tribe and want to carry on a sense of pride about who and what we are as a people. Through the use of portraiture, I am giving both the tribe and the outside world a perspective from someone who comes from within the Ho-Chunk community." -- Tom Jones

The Collection Council also selected two photographs by Widline Cadet: Manyen Distans (Touching Distance) (2023), and Santiman fantom (Ghost Feelings) (2023). Both images are from Cadet’s ongoing series Seremoni Disparisyon (Ritual [Dis]Appearance) (2019-), which explores Cadet’s relationship with family and generational memory after immigrating to the US from Haiti as a teenager. Staging dream-like scenes that evoke the Haitian landscape, Cadet experiments with foreground and background using harsh lighting. She often toys with doubled or twin layers in her images, visualizing the duality of place and imagining the meeting of previous generations. In her virtual studio visit with the Council, Cadet reflected on her work’s connection to the theme of “kinship”:

"In the beginning of my practice, I was more so concerned with the documentary aspect of making. And so I would travel between the U.S. and Haiti, meeting and connecting with my family and taking images of them. But over time […] “Ritual [Dis]appearances,” has been more so, I think, making images of things that I’ve felt are less tangible in some ways. […] And this record isn’t necessarily something that’s factual, but more so something that plays in between the lines of facts, fiction, but also imagined realities." -- Widline Cadet

Throughout the acquisition process, Jones and Cadet’s photographs emerged as the works best suited to the theme and presented exciting opportunities within The Block’s teaching collection. Toftness noted the Council was especially compelled by how Jones and Cadet push traditional boundaries of the materials they work with—Jones through his incorporation of three-dimensional beaded backgrounds and Cadet through layering images in her photographs. “We were just really drawn to the way they explore their medium,” Toftness remarked.

These acquisitions have already enriched The Block’s mission of teaching with its collection. Tom Jones’s work Amos Kingsley (2016) is featured in The Block’s One Book One Northwestern teaching and learning guide for the 2024-2025 academic year, which highlights objects related to themes in Louise Erdrich’s novel The Night Watchman.

As it enters its third year, the Collection Council’s work will continue evolving. The upcoming year’s search is guided by the theme of “the city,” inspired by a permanent collection exhibition that will open at The Block in 2025-2026. The acquisition process will continue to emphasize academic teaching and learning, driven by the museum’s permanent collection and exhibition cycle.

Contributed by Madeleine Giaconia