4,578 (4.578)

2021-2022
Black cotton, twill weave tapestry, gold, red, white, and green threads; woven in tim, Augsburg
45.25 x 208.625” (1,15 x 5,3 meters)

From 1528 to 1540, at least twenty-seven Portuguese merchant ships transported 4,578 enslaved Africans to Hispaniola, resulting from a contract between Holy Roman Emperor Charles V (Charles I of Spain) and the Welsers (a German merchant family). Portuguese enslavers purchased the aforementioned Africans using manillas as currency. The Fuggers (another German merchant family) provided the Portuguese with the metal required to make manillas.

This tapestry was commissioned by the Fugger and Welser Adventure Museum in Augsburg, Germany and is composed of two representations of manillas. The first translates the term “SLAVE MONEY” into the languages of the enslavers who traded in this currency: “SKLAVENGELD” (German), “DINERO DE ESCLAVO” (Spanish), and “DINHEIRO DE ESCRAVO” (Portuguese). Inserting and including the English translation of “SLAVE MONEY” references my native language and the parlance of those who enslaved and colonized my ancestors. The second representation consists of a stylized rendering of the gold-colored manillas, of which 1,777 are stitched between and around the multicolored text to complete the tapestry’s pattern.