by Ellen Christine
She wore her best hat. Her very best hat. The journey across the sea to a new world and a new life in a new country merited that. Uncle Morris was waiting on the other side in New York City where she would begin, but the start of the adventure was all about her hat….
The symbolism of articles of clothing provides the basis for a reading of entire sweeps of the population. What we wear and why we wear it translates to a language understood by some but not all. What do you bring to a new country when you’re leaving behind the only life you know? Do you bring the practical? Do you bring only the best you own?
Immigrants arriving on our shores first disembarked onto Ellis Island for their medical check-ups. Their status was not yet established but their sense of wonder and trepidation certainly began there. Their possessions would have told that history and would probably have been few but important. The Statue of Liberty beckoned within their line of vision and a new American heritage was born through the cultural phenomenon arriving en masse.
Left behind as a ghostly reminder of millions who passed through these doors, the Ellis Island Immigrant Hospital still stands as testimony to this history. Beyond the empty wards and corridors that once echoed with busy footsteps, the twists of vine and overgrowth of field grass bear the weight of memory of those many souls. Their presence resonated through all the years to follow.
Befitting a building that stands on a spit of land next to the Statue of Liberty, a French graffiti artist known as JR installed his contribution to the work begun by others of his countrymen: Lafayette in our American Revolution and Bartholdi with his magnificent Lady Liberty. The lifting of that eternal flame now guards the spirits of the millions who came and who are now immortalized in JR’s photographic installation within the Hospital Complex. JR’s public art incorporates historical images of actual doctors, nurses, attendants and patients and are imbued with a sense of purpose and belonging. This exhibit, titled “Unframed Ellis Island,” opened to the public on October 1, 2014.
Walking through the wings with a sense of living history, one can turn a corner to see oversized photographs of arriving men, women, and children attached to a crumbling wall. Passing through a laundry room, images of those who walked here a century ago are affixed to windows that overlook the Statue of Liberty, calm and tranquil in the bay. Hospital staff locker rooms are enlivened with the images of smiling nurses who welcomed and nurtured here. At every turn, with history reigning supreme, one feels the march of time and a sense of wonder, the awe and respect that should be paid to these souls who forged a new life. The purpose of this installation is perhaps to meld history, architecture, street art, and the inevitable encroachment of time. To me in my hard hat, it was a moment captured in time, a window into both the past and into the present.
Listen closely to the whispers and the chatter of your fellow exhibit-viewers. In an inspiring moment, view the Statue of Liberty as our ancestors, our friends and our new citizens would have seen it--in their best hats. And carrying with them their best hopes and dreams neatly tied in a bundle.
Reference book: The Ghosts of Ellis Island. A project by JR. Published by Damiani 2015
Article photographs by Ellen Colon-Lugo
Link to tour: https://www.saveellisisland.org/about-us/blog/item/45-unframed—ellis-island.html
