13-02-2025
Art project opens windows into Lexington's past: ‘I Was Here'
LEXINGTON, Ky. (FOX 56) — If you walk around Lexington's old courthouse, you may feel as if you're being watched. There are ghostly figures in many of the windows—tapestries that represent the ancestors who helped build the foundations of the city and people who were bought and sold in this square, which housed the largest slave auction block west of the Allegheny Mountains.
Marjorie Guyon, a collage artist, got the idea for the tapestries in the fall of 2016 while working in her studio.
Art project opens windows into Lexington's past: 'I Was Here'
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'My window looked out onto the old courthouse, and I had a vision of an African mother and child that moved from window to window like points of light,' she said. 'When I saw it, I knew I had to do something with it.'
That was the beginning of the 'I Was Here' project. Guyon teamed up with photographer Patrick Mitchell and got local models to pose for what they called 'Ancestor Spirit Portraits.'It's art in a public space, giving dignity to the people who came to Lexington by force, and their descendants, who became a force throughout the city's history.
'The hope is they can be used to basically shift the spirit of the country,' Guyon said.
The project has spread throughout the nation, with 'I Was Here' spirit portraits displayed in many places, including the Octagon Museum in Washington, D.C. In 2023, they were projected onto New York City's One World Trade Center, which stands near the former site of slave trading in Manhattan.
Barry Burton of Lexington got deeply involved, first as a model, then as a writer and installations manager.
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'It's the spirit side of this project that keeps me involved because I tell Marjorie all the time, and I tell everybody that I talk to, this is a spirit project, not an art project,' Burton said. 'If you go back far enough, you're going to find out that we have more in common than we do differences.'
The team behind this project wanted the people in these portraits to appear timeless, as if they could've been in the courthouse square 200 years ago or earlier today. They say that represents the power of ancestry.
'We are exactly who we are at this moment, but we're also a compilation of the souls that have made us, Guyon said.
She realizes that some people have not really understood the purpose of the portraits. 'One of the strengths of this is subtlety,' she said. 'But it's also one of the weaknesses because there is no explanation.'
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That is changing, with a new installation on the ground level of the old courthouse. The tapestries there are combined with words that put the purpose in context. Now, anyone can understand why there are faces of African Americans in so many windows in a two-block area. Soon, there will also be a soundscape. Passersby will hear narration coming from outside speakers—essays and prayers written by people who've been inspired by that simple yet profound statement, 'I Was Here.'
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