2. Memorial to the abolition of slavery, Nantes( Loire-Atlantique) © PHILIPPE PIRON / LVAN
the unspeakable horror of the voyages they mark. It is here that confusion begins.
Then comes the descent. The visitor moves beneath the quay, into a concrete chamber both austere and luminous in its simplicity, yet dark, almost sepulchral, in its intent. The murmur of the river can be heard and light filters through like that in the hold of a slave ship. A faint soundtrack whispers. The space closes in; time seems suspended. To one side, an opening faces the Loire; to the other, a glass wall engraved with the word Freedom in forty-seven languages. A polyphonic chorus of voices rises, solemn and resonant, along this wall. They speak the unspeakable— of struggle, of hope, of revolt. From the words of enslaved insurgents to the speeches of abolitionists; from Enlightenment philosophers to twentieth-century poets; from the calls of past resisters to the appeals of today’ s activists.
3. Memorial to the abolition of slavery, Nantes( Loire-Atlantique) © PHILIPPE PIRON / LVAN
30
Observing Memories ISSUE 9