Bennett Cafarelli

Garnet High School (1948, 1952, 1954)
Materials: Cotton yarn, oyster shell, pewter pin. Made in 2026 at @kentculturalalliance’s history themed art residency.

Woven with cotton yarn and framed in solid walnut (with major help from Bob of @finishingtouch_ctown). The color palette for these weavings were sourced from class colors shown in the 1948, 1952, and 1954 Garnet Swans, yearbooks from Henry Highland Garnet High School (one of the last all Black schools to operate leading up to the time of forced integration). They layer chronologically with the oldest date in the back and the most recent towards the front. An oyster shell sourced from the Chester River and a pewter horse pin sourced from a secondhand store in Chestertown, MD adorn the weaving, puncturing its top layer, representing the class of 1954. The lunar calendar states 1954 was the year of the horse, as is 2026, the year this piece was made. These yearbooks and other local documentation of Black history in Kent County, MD can be accessed online through the Chesapeake Heartland digital archive (@chesapeakeheartland). Special thanks to Stu for gallery instillation, Bob Ortiz for help modifying my loom, Jamie for lending equipment, as well as everyone at KCA for making my six week stay in Chestertown so meaningful. Photos taken by @caro_jphillips