“WE WILL NOT BE ERASED:”
REMEMBERING ANCESTORS THROUGH THE HANDS-ON ART OF LETTERPRESS
Providence master printmaker Jacques Bidon leads community art activation
PROVIDENCE, RI, April 19 — As the history and contributions of people of color continue to be stripped from public spaces nationwide, two local organizations are teaming up to resist these efforts in bold color – recognizing RI’s enslaved and free Black and Indigenous ancestors through hands-on art-making.
Led by artist, activist, and master printmaker Jacques Bidon in his Providence studio, the 4/22 event “Say Their Names: An Act of Love through Lettering” will feature the art of letterpress printing. With music, storytelling, and food from local vendors, Bidon will guide participants in creating vivid, layered prints featuring individual names of Black and Indigenous people who resided in — and helped build the wealth of — present-day Bristol, RI between 1680 and the Civil War.
The names represent a fraction of more than 1,200 people – old, young, African, African-American, Pokanoket, Narragansett, Wampanoag – whose existence has been documented through the ongoing research of Research BIPOC History (RBH). “Say Their Names” is presented by RBH, a volunteer research effort founded in 2020 and based in Bristol, RI.
The event is co-sponsored by Tufts University’s Office of the Vice Provost for Research.
“I believe in the power of print,” says Bidon, the Haitian-born child of a print shop owner who spent his childhood exploring the world of printing and letterpress. His Acorn Street studio is draped with wall-to-wall prints featuring quotes like “Print Like You Give a Damn” and “History Cannot Be Deleted Like Web Pages,” as well as images of Black icons like Angela Davis and Audre Lorde. “I believe in the power of printing to change just about anything.”
“Say Their Names” will run from 6:30 PM to 8 PM on Tuesday, April 22, 2025
Bidon Community Print&Design Studio
3 Acorn St, Providence, RI 02903 ·
(401) 516-1157