The Monster of Central Park: The Dark History of Dr. J Marion Sims as told by Doreen Garner

 

From right to left: Kenya (Robinson) and Doreen Garner at the White Man on a Pedestal exhibition. Image by: Aotproject.org.

White Man on a Pedestal

White Man on a Pedestal was a two-person exhibition featuring Kenya (Robinson) and Doreen Garner. From November 10 to December 17, 2017, the two African American women showcased the prevalent power that White men have in the Western World. The purpose of this exhibition for these Black artists was to exploit and showcase the dark histories of White male supremacy, especially figures that are displayed as statues and monuments. Focusing on one of the artists from this exhibition, we experience the use of trauma in Doreen Garner’s artworks against Dr. J. Marion Sims.

Who is Doreen Garner?

Doreen Garner is currently working as an artist in Brooklyn. Garner’s works revolve around recreating sculptures of the human body, embodying gore and “traumatic” aspects of what could happen to human flesh.














         Doreen Garner, Rack of Those Ravaged and Unconsenting, 2017. Image by: Pioneer Works.

How does her work involve Marion Sims?

In the exhibition, Garner’s focused on Dr. J. Marion Sims, a historical figure in the science world. While known as the “Father of Modern Gynecology”, Garner reveals the atrocities of Dr. Sim’s practices. 

"J. Marion Sims: Gynecological Surgeon," University of Michigan

She revealed that the doctor performed unethical surgery on three enslaved African American women: Betsy, Anarcha, and Lucy. The names and pain of these Black women and countless others were lost to time while Dr. Sims continues to be admired. 

What is the Significance of Garner’s Work?

Garner’s primary goal in this exhibition was to educate the audience. Not only on the blatantly racist practices of Dr. Sims but also about his African American victims. Through her work, his subjects were no longer nameless victims in his dark medical history. The artist thus brings awareness to the cruel brutality that African Americans endured throughout history. This brutality and cruelness, especially of Dr. Sims, resonates with Garner as she is an African-American woman. 

In Conclusion

Garner’s segment of the exhibition, she had a live performance of a vesicovaginal fistula repair on a silicon body of Dr. Sims along with other performers. The audience sat and watched this uncomfortable and horrific display as Garner reenacts this surgery that the doctor had done to his former subjects, similarly as an act of revenge. But the impact of such a horrific display is what Garner strove for; the lasting memory that sticks to you and makes you understand her anger. By doing so enables Garner to educate the audience on Black history, the cruel truth of Dr. Sims’s medical practices, and plant doubt within the audience whether or not that the statue of Dr. Sims in Central Park should be kept up. 

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