Exerting Power through Art & Architecture
There were many ways that art, architecture and images created by Anglo-Europeans exerted their power over non-white cultures in colonial America. Power was exerted through the meanings and portrayal of all kinds of things. Ideas about power were exerted through art and architecture of the time.
Paintings by John White portrayed Native Americans of the New World. White wanted to convey that they were civil but his paintings were observed to mean different things than he had intended. White wanted to show the flora and fauna of the New World. Robert Vaughan changed many of John White's depictions to convey themes of uncivilized, savage peoples. These depictions showed the English as superior to the Native Americans. This showed their power and exerted control over the Native Americans.
Maps were another way that the Europeans exerted their power and control over the Native Americans. The English would change the name of places and geographical points of interest in the New World to exert their claim. Maps expressed the fact that the Europeans "owned" this place they were mapping out and therefore, the people who resided there.
Europeans could exert their power over non-white cultures architecturally, as well. On plantations, the slave quarters were separate from the Big House and this showed the explicit separation of black and white.
Portraiture could exert power over non-whites too. The portrait of Lucy Parke Byrd shows the Virginia planter world view of slave ownership. The inclusion of the slave and the basket signify Lucy as the owner of this slave.
Another example of an architectural exertion of power over non-whites is in the separation of black and white for religious services. Slaves either had to sit in the balcony of white churches or had their own separate church altogether. The delegated worship area for slaves was always lower quality than that of their white masters.
The exertion of power over non-whites can be seen in depictions by John White and Robert Vaughan, the way maps were drawn out and interpreted, separate slave quarters, portraiture, and separate worship spaces.
