Mining the Museum: Pedestals, globe, and busts

Description

The image depicts a work on display in "Mining the Museum," a 1992-1993 installation by artist Fred Wilson at the Maryland Historical Society. In Mining the Museum, Wilson used the museum's collections to confront and challenge perceptions about history, culture, and race. It was a joint exhibition with The Contemporary in Baltimore. The items on display in this work include three empty pedestals on the left labeled Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass, and Benjamin Banneker, all Black Marylanders; a silver plated copper globe in the center known as the "Truth Trophy" and awarded for truth in advertising, designed and crafted by Mr. Thoman and producd by the Stieff Company; and the busts of historic figures Henry Clay, Napoleon Bonaparte, and Andrew Jackson on the right.