Harrison Gallery
825 White Street
Key West, Florida
OPENING:
February 14, 2023
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"Dark and Light"
a 6 painting series
"Even the darkest night will end and the sun will rise"
- Victor Hugo
In the summer of 2022, Ben Harrison sent me a draft of his forthcoming musical, "El Isleño 1921:
The Untold Key West Story". Over the next few months I spent a lot of time re-reading the script,
listening again and again to his eleven original songs, and pouring over archival newspaper clippings.
Ben and artist wife and gallery owner, Helen Harrison, had once again enticed me with the opportunity to
paint a companion series of work, relating to the topic of a Harrison musical. Six years before, I had done
just that, eight ex-voto style paintings about Count Carl von Cosel and his macabre obsession with Elena de
Hoyos, brought to musical life in "Undying Love", the name of Ben's book and subsequent musical production.
This was a bizarre, true Cayo Hueso tale, laced with plenty of dark humor.
The story of El Isleño is also dark, but ultimately not a laughing matter. Through Ben's artistry, he
courageously sheds light on a profoundly somber chapter in Key West's mostly sunny history, and at the
same time, proffers the joy of music, the promise of post-WWI America, and the exciting changes in a new
modern world. For me the challenge of painting the difficulty of the topic, coupled with my eagerness to
participate in this truth-telling, was irresistible.
My intention through this narrative series, then, is to not only honor the life and death of Manuel
Cabezas and what happened on Christmas morning 1921, but to also applaud the playwright and musician
for his sensitive and illuminating treatment of the duality of human nature.
"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that.
Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that".
- Martin Luther King, Jr.
Melinda K. Hall
January 2023
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