William Blake: Brothers' Bones Beside - Catalog - Page 5
Brother’s Bones Beside
BY: TK SMITH
T
he nuance of reconciliation is critical to understand when
white fear. Spurred by persisting belief in white supremacy,
discussing the aftermath of the American Civil War.
patriarchy, and extractive capitalism, this fear has resulted in
Put simply, the term is used to describe the restoration of
a long history of white-enacted violence. Enemies no longer
friendship; in the context of the war, the term is used to describe
need to wear differentiating uniforms on a designated battle
the efforts of reuniting the Union and the Confederacy into a
field, as the enemy has come to be identified by such things as
single nation. This use of the term evokes idealism, relying
sex, race, and class.
on assumptions of a pre-war unity that arguably never existed
There is an American compulsion to return to the American
and a post-war unity that has yet to be seen. The colloquial
Civil War as a point of national interrogation. Reenactors
phrase “brother against brother” underscores the severing of
devote their time and labor to the meticulous reproduction of
families and communities, not singularly by the violence of
military attire and equipment, recounting stories of famous
the country’s bloodiest war but by loyalties to one ideal or
battles, and crafting authentic narratives about the lives of
another. We can then collectively envision two blood brothers
everyday people. Somewhere amongst the nationalism, pride,
standing on opposite banks of the Ohio River, one dressed in
and mourning involved in acting out the past, there is an urge
blue and the other in gray, with their spiked bayonets pointed
to reassert the war as something more than mere violence. This
at each other. Brother against brother, one’s own blood must
compulsion, and the perpetual narration of the Civil War that
be shed to define the future of the infant nation. Amongst
results, comes from a need to better understand the present,
the many questions that must be addressed when attempting
humanize our ancestors, and most significantly, the need to
post-war reconciliation, the one that remains most unresolved
reawaken belief in those earlier ideals.
to this day is who is called brother and who is not.
Painter William Blake is a war reenactor, one of the many
A singular nation did rise from the Union’s victory in
that gather to wear military uniforms, sing battle songs,
1865, but a nation for whom? Recounting United States
and act out the major historical events that have defined our
history following the war reveals a near constant repetition
nation. His contemporary artistic practice is aligned with the
of that unresolved question—who is a brother and who is
genre of historical painting and acts as a revisionist form of
not?—posed by different people with differing stakes, all
reenactment in itself. His paintings create vivid historical
demanding the recognition of their humanity. History shows
interventions, offering new ways to see, contextualize, and
that major efforts of reconciliation were aimed to bring white
question the past. Armed with an inquisitive presentist
men together at the expense of the perceived Other. The
lens, Blake dissects celebrated national symbols, painting
abolitionist movement asked on behalf of the enslaved, am
iconoclastic gestures that disrupt our grand narratives. This
I not a man and a brother? The women’s suffrage movement
method of historical intervention offers us the opportunity
asserted the equality of the sexes as the sacred law of humanity.
to interrogate the undergirding ideals of the Civil War, to
The idealism of the Reconstruction era and the dream of
ponder reconciliation, and yet again pose the question: who is
freedom for all was quickly undermined by the prevalence of
a brother and who is not? n
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