Speak of Me as I Am: Chandelier Mori
Fred Wilson
American, born 1954
Details
Title
Speak of Me as I Am: Chandelier Mori
Artist/Maker
Fred Wilson (American, born 1954)
Date
2003
Medium
Murano glass and light bulbs
Dimensions
70 x 67 x 67 inches
Credit
Purchase with funds from Lisa and Ron Brill
Accession #
2006.154
Fred Wilson created this chandelier to remember the role people of African descent played in Renaissance Venice, a period that predates the Atlantic slave trade. Between 1400 and 1600, Venice was one of the most cosmopolitan and ethnically diverse places in the world. To learn about the role Africans played in this culture, Wilson spent months in Venice exploring archives, museum collections, local records and speaking with contemporary Venetians. The title Speak of me as I am is taken from Othello’s final speech in Shakespeare’s Othello: “Speak of me as I am. Nothing extenuate/Nor set down aught in Malice.” Othello is one of the few characters of African descent in literature at the time, one of Venice’s so-called “black” Moors. The word “Mori” in the title is Latin for “to die.” To create this chandelier, Wilson worked with craftsmen on the island of Murano, in Italy who for centuries have made typically luxurious chandeliers in clear and colored glasses, but never in black glass.