ABSCONDED #EjectionDay2020 is DRAGONFLY’s second iteration of Ona Judge as a living monument. The project continues in New York City, and is also slated to be invoked at George and Martha Washington monuments and other historical landmarks worldwide. The artist’s goal is to uplift the memory of a forgotten American Founding Mother, amplify the paradox of Black freedom as fugitivity, highlight the complexities of American chattel slavery, and contribute to the ongoing conversations about who is memorialized as we push towards decolonization.

Watch the live performance of ABSCONDED #EjectionDay2020 on HemiTV starting at 12:00 PM (EST). Available on all platforms and devices.

Date: #EjectionDay2020 - Tuesday, November 3, 2020
Time(s): 12:00pm - 2:00pm EST
Location: Upper West Side, Manhattan, NYC

Performance Route (all times are approximate):
Watch HEMITV LIVESTREAM for current location during performance.

12:00pm - Seneca Village in Central Park
12:20pm - Teddy Roosevelt Statue at the Museum of Natural History
12:30pm - Frederick Douglass Statue at the New York Historical Society
12:35pm - Columbus Avenue Promenade
12:50pm - Columbus Avenue and Broadway Intersection
1:00pm - San Juan Hill — Lincoln Center
1:30pm - Columbus Circle & Trump International Hotel

Event is free and open to the public. Social distancing and masks are required.

Inaugural Moving Monument Ritual for Ona Maria Judge Staines
Unpaid Labor Day
Monday, September 7, 2020
12pm – 1:30pm EDT
Lower Manhattan
(Social distancing expected and implored)

WALL STREET:
12pm — Federal Hall
12:20pm — NYSE

BROADWAY PROMENADES:
12:40 — NYSE to St. Paul’s Chapel
1:00 — St. Paul’s Chapel to African Burial Ground

MOVEMENT // SOUND // STILLNESS // SILENCE

Ona Judge was born into slavery before the American Revolution. She was a seamstress and Martha Washington’s body servant and “pet.” While George was serving his second term, on May 21, 1796 at age 22, she quietly absconded from Philadelphia on a ship to New Hampshire as they ate dinner. With the help of the Free Black and abolitionist communities, she lived as a fugitive for the rest of her life. This ritual is the first in a living monument series to a forgotten Founding Mother.