Nyugen E. Smith

Magnolia Plantation & Gardens
Indigo in Bloom
Charleston, SC | Spring 2025

A highlight of FSA’s spring residency was Nyugen E. Smith’s participation in Indigo in Bloom, an exhibition at Magnolia Plantation and Gardens that opened on April 4th, 2025. The exhibition, conceived as an intervention in the plantation landscape, was organized by Jim Martin, Magnolia’s director of horticulture. It included indigo textile and sculptural works by Arianne King Comer, Hitomi Gilliam, and other artists, variously addressing the links between Charleston’s plantation history and the indigo traditions that first arrived with enslaved populations from West Africa. Martin invited Smith to create an installation for the exhibition after meeting him at Comer’s indigo studio, where Smith had been working on several resist-dyed indigo pieces.

 

Smith’s installation, Follow de Sounds They Say, depicts a guardian figure seated before cloth mapped with a crossroads. The artwork employs ideas and imagery that Smith has explored elsewhere, especially with regard to dispossessed populations from Africa.

Smith’s installation, Follow de Sounds They Say, depicts a guardian figure seated before cloth mapped with a crossroads. The artwork employs ideas and imagery that Smith has explored elsewhere, especially with regard to dispossessed populations from Africa. The guardian at Magnolia leads the spirits of the Africans who worked and died on the plantation to a crossroads where they can transcend the earthly realm. Please see the video below for Smith’s discussion of the installation. 

In accordance with his own longstanding practice, before installing Follow de Sounds They Say, Smith ‘activated’ both the guardian figure and the crossroads map through a series of movements. These can be seen in the second video below.

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Nyugen E. Smith, "Untitled (Improvisational movement)" (video still), 2025.

Nyugen E. Smith, "Follow de Signs They Say" (installation view), 2025. Mixed media sculpture. Photo by Jorge Uribe.

Nyugen E. Smith, "Follow de Signs They Say" (installation view), 2025. Mixed media sculpture.

Nyugen E. Smith, "Follow de Signs They Say" (with Magnolia House in view), 2025. Mixed media sculpture.

Nyugen E. Smith, "Untitled (indigo resist-dyed textile)," 2025.

Nyugen E. Smith, "Untitled (indigo resist-dyed textile)," 2025.

Nyugen E. Smith, "Untitled (indigo resist-dyed textile)," 2025.

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Indigo in Bloom | Magnolia Plantation & Gardens

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Nyugen E. Smith | Spring 2025 Artist-in-Residence