There, Eyes Were Watching


Jeremy Toussaint-Baptiste is an artist, composer, and performer whose work considers errant relations which push towards the limits of subjectivity.

Artist Bio

There, Eyes Were Watching is a “monument by subtraction” that centers on a specific property in South Louisiana: a former plantation which now houses a bed-and-breakfast pitching an experience of the “bygone days” of the South with “modern amenities.” The work addresses the distortion of history in service of white supremacy but also hospitality, tourism, preservation, etc. via “heritage marketing.” While the most conspicuous monuments to colonial-era and Confederate figures have been removed, replaced, or, at least, challenged—along with the corresponding regime of memorialization—sites like the B&B are rarely considered as monuments, however innumerable (and transparent as efforts at legacy rebranding). Jeremy Toussaint-Baptiste proposes to acquire the property and, ultimately, raze the building, turning the site into a monument that hinges on the destruction of familiar markers of historical experience, rather than the construction of symbols defined in opposition (and limited by the same terms of legibility, audience, nationality, etc.). Toussaint-Baptiste has begun to plan, raise funds, and consider the manifestations of the work that will be developed in the process, beyond representations of the acquisition—and of the corporate entity that will act as legal agent. In the end, the project will exist not as a work of environmental art by the artist but as a structure for collaborative governance and stewardship of the land. The property’s use will be determined by a body that includes local organizations and individuals—some with historical claims similar to my own—as well as representatives of Native groups who occupied the land before colonization.

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Award Year
2025
Status

In Progress

An image of the artist wearing a long-sleeved, black shirt and black glasses, against a white background.

Jeremy Toussaint-Baptiste

Richmond, Virginia

Jeremy Toussaint-Baptiste’s work, spanning roles as both artist, composer, and performer, considers errant relations that push toward the limits of subjectivity, frequently making use of low frequency sound, darkness, water, space, and bodies as points of departure for conceptual and material inquiry and relation.

Toussaint-Baptiste’s fellowships and awards include the Camargo Foundation Core Program Fellowship; Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts Sound Artist-In-Residence; Bessie Award for Outstanding Music Composition and Sound Design, the Jerome Foundation Airspace Residency at Abrons Arts Center; and the Rauschenberg Residency 381. Recent exhibitions and performances include The Institute of Contemporary Art at VCU, 1708 Gallery, Richmond, Virginia; Berlin Atonal, Berlin, Germany; MoMA PS1, Queens, New York; Performance Space, New York, New York; The Kitchen, Brooklyn, New York; Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, New York. They are an Assistant Professor in Sculpture & Extended Media at Virginia Commonwealth University.