Elizabeth Breckenridge served the Wylie family for 54 years. At the young age of 13 years old, she went to live with Theophilus and Rebecca Wylie as “one of the family”, and yet there is relatively little information about her. Records call her a colored woman, a servant girl, and a domestic servant. From newspaper accounts and family letters, it is known that she stayed single, could read and write, loved stars, and immediately after ending her service to the family, purchased a home of her own. What was it like for Lizzie to labor in a house that was not hers? What were the racial dynamics inside and outside of the house like, especially since slavery was not officially abolished in the U.S. until December 1865, nine years after Lizzie began working for the Wylie family? Did Lizzie dream about getting married and having children, or did a life of laboring for the Wylie family make that impossible or undesirable? How did she feel about the Wylie family? How did she feel about her own family? As a black woman in the 19th century, how much autonomy did she have in determining her life choices?
Instead of one room or space dedicated to having the viewer contemplate Lizzie’s presence and life, I have an item or a small display in each room of the house I believe Lizzie spent a significant amount of time in as member of the household and caretaker. For this exhibition, called “Seeing Lizzie”, I have created a series of artifacts such as dolls, quilts, and altered household items that are placed throughout the house to make the viewer realize without her labor, skill, and care, the Wylie House would not be able to function the way that it did. By juxtaposing and rearranging Wylie House items with fabricated ones, the aim of this exhibit is to make visitors of the Wylie House question the relationships that existed, with Lizzie as both the center and focus.
In order to prepare for this exhibition, I relied on letters, photos, and archival information to try to piece together what Elizabeth’s life could have been like in the Wylie House. I visited antique stores to find time period appropriate artifacts. Alongside each work is an NFC tag, where visitors can be directed to websites that provide more of the cultural and historical context of Lizzie’s life. As I continued to work on this project, I realized I wanted to reaffirm her presence in the house, make it visible, so that a visitor could wonder and perhaps see Elizabeth Breckenridge in the Wylie House. Virtual Tour: my.matterport.com/show/?m=n5RwTLv2mHL
Instead of one room or space dedicated to having the viewer contemplate Lizzie’s presence and life, I have an item or a small display in each room of the house I believe Lizzie spent a significant amount of time in as member of the household and caretaker. For this exhibition, called “Seeing Lizzie”, I have created a series of artifacts such as dolls, quilts, and altered household items that are placed throughout the house to make the viewer realize without her labor, skill, and care, the Wylie House would not be able to function the way that it did. By juxtaposing and rearranging Wylie House items with fabricated ones, the aim of this exhibit is to make visitors of the Wylie House question the relationships that existed, with Lizzie as both the center and focus.
In order to prepare for this exhibition, I relied on letters, photos, and archival information to try to piece together what Elizabeth’s life could have been like in the Wylie House. I visited antique stores to find time period appropriate artifacts. Alongside each work is an NFC tag, where visitors can be directed to websites that provide more of the cultural and historical context of Lizzie’s life. As I continued to work on this project, I realized I wanted to reaffirm her presence in the house, make it visible, so that a visitor could wonder and perhaps see Elizabeth Breckenridge in the Wylie House. Virtual Tour: my.matterport.com/show/?m=n5RwTLv2mHL