Two Boxes of Oranges and Admonia Jackson by Nina Cooke John is the fifth in the Site See: New Views in Old Town annual public art series. The installation is on view from March through November 2023.

Click here to listen to an interview with Nina Cooke John about her process for creating the work.

Cooke John was inspired by the remains of 18th century ships found at the Hotel Indigo site and the Robinson Terminal South site in 2015 and 2018. She was intrigued with the form and texture of the wrecks themselves, as well as the ways archeological excavations and sites reveal layers of history.

The installation she has created for Waterfront Park forms an abstracted ship’s hull with steel vertical elements that rise and bend, referencing the curve of the hull’s frame. The vertical elements spread across the site to form the rough outline of a ship. Visitors can stand within the space and imagine a time in Alexandria’s history when the ships carried not only cargo like tobacco, molasses, rum and limes, but also enslaved people who were traded as part of the transatlantic and domestic slave trades.

Like an archaeological dig, the installation is layered. Text on the vertical elements and the ground reveals fragments of information taken from the manifests of ships that arrived to the Port of Alexandria in the 18th century. Lists of cargo such as “herring”, “coconuts” and “gin” are painted on the ground and embedded in the vertical elements alongside names found in the manifests, such as “Jane Tailor, female, 5’-2.”” Also listed are “two boxes of oranges” and “Admonia Jackson”.

Approaching the installation from the exterior of the abstracted hull, visitors view one side, or layer, of history. Once inside the installation, a fuller story is revealed. Visitors can move in, through and between the installation elements, reading the text, running their hands along the words, and stepping amongst the lists of items and individuals carried to and from Alexandria’s waterfront in the 18th century.