Introduction by Jacqueline Bishop

The River That Flows Both Ways is a series of plates commissioned by Bobst Library. The work seeks to commemorate the Lenape lands on which much of NYU’s New York campus is located. The work also seeks to highlight trade routes that would bring Europeans and enslaved Africans in contact with Indigenous communities. In so many ways, however, this work is a personal odyssey. My first encounter with Bobst Library was as a young graduate student several decades ago. The library served as a refuge where I could read, relax, and study. But as much as the library served as a sanctuary, every time I entered the beloved building, I was overcome by a powerful invisibility for almost all the walls were decorated with one group of people. Where were the women and people of color? I wondered. And, in any case, what was the history of the land where the library was located?

The six porcelain plates in “The River That Flows Both Ways” is my answer to the questions I had.

In the plates, I focused on New York’s history beginning in the 1600s: the moment of encounter. Through research I learnt of the rich history of the Lenape people who first inhabited a place they called Manahatta. Exploration and a search for trade routes would bring Europeans to Lenape lands to be followed shortly by enslaved Africans brought in as a source of labor. The plates focus on the meeting and interactions of these three groups. The work showcases Lenape ceremonies, African enslaved laborers, and European settlers juxtaposed against flags of early trade companies, maps of New York, and recognizable NYU and New York buildings and landmarks. The native plants of New York are given pride of place in this work, not only to mark the location as New York, but also because the search for plants (along with spices) was a major impetus for the confluence that took place.

It should be noted that it was incredibly difficult to find archival imagery of the period that has since come to be called “Dutch New York.” Even more frustratingly difficult was finding imagery of enslaved individuals and women of the period. Huge kudos to the two graduate students assigned to the project who worked assiduously and dug deep to find the imagery utilized on the plates. The Lenape called the Hudson River “the river that flows both ways,” meaning a body of water, restless, in constant motion. The saying also partly references the flow of goods up and down the Hudson River. But there is another meaning to the saying which I quite admire: that which denotes mutual respect. The river that flows both ways is one in which respect is given and respect is received. These porcelain plates are a tribute to permanent yet shifting history and contemporary. These plates are my way of moving forward by looking back.

—Jacqueline Bishop, 2025