Vol. 8 Presenter: Ke Vaughn Harding
Presenting
Their Voices from the Ground
Summary
What is perhaps more daunting to contemplate than death itself, is the possibility of one’s essence eventually vanishing from the memory of the living. This apprehension has often led humankind into elaborate endeavors of making, in the pursuit of immortality through these evocations. The enslaved souls at Good Hope Estate in Jamaica were robbed of much of the agency that is often a precondition for these pursuits. Still, their voices emanate from the grounds that they once inhabited. For the constructed environment is ordinarily an inadvertent mold material upon which the likenesses of its inhabitants are cast. Rather than physical effigies, its caverns preserve the imprints of essence: activities, routines, lives.
A multitude of voices rising, the scale of the enslaved’s individuality and relatability was simultaneously palpable and indistinguishable - their discernible impressions on the landscape more expressive of the collective. Recent archaeological investigations have begun, however, to provide greater insight into the domestic lives of this enslaved community. During these studies, art and architecture were employed in the processes of reimagining and recreating the largely vanished contexts of the archaeological findings.
Bio
Ke Vaughn Harding’s historic preservation perspectives were largely shaped by his practical experience and leadership in the rehabilitation of historic dwellings in his hometown of Falmouth, Jamaica. He has served as the director of Falmouth Heritage Renewal, sat on the national council of the Georgian Society of Jamaica, and acted as the Jamaica National Heritage Trust’s representative in Falmouth. His skills in interpreting the cultural values of historic built environments are both a direct product of this past work, and a point of departure for subsequent preservation and design initiatives.
Ke Vaughn received his undergraduate degree in Architectural Studies from the University of Technology, Jamaica, followed by a Master of Architecture degree and a Graduate Certificate in Historic Preservation and Regionalism from the University of New Mexico.