St. Croix artist La Vaughn Belle’s The House that Freedoms Built installation will include three small structures inspired by the shapes of 18th-century houses built by the formerly enslaved people of St. Croix—a Danish colony for 200 years before becoming a U.S. territory in 1917. Belle is a multidisciplinary creator whose work is informed by archaeological and archival research. | Courtesy Rollins Museum of Art
From shifting the 750-ton Casa Feliz 300 yards to floating the historic Capen House across Lake Osceola, you could say that Winter Park has a thing for transporting houses to new locations—which bodes well for an upcoming exhibition at the Rollins Museum of Art.
St. Croix artist La Vaughn Belle’s The House that Freedoms Built—which debuted in 2024 as part of the Smithsonian’s Design Triennial series outside New York City’s Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum—will migrate to campus on Friday, July 24. The installation, which literally will include three (small) houses, will mark the artist’s first in Florida.
Belle is a multidisciplinary creator whose work is informed by archaeological and archival research, allowing her to examine history through a critical lens while encouraging viewers to reconsider familiar narratives.
Inspired by the shapes of 18th-century houses built by the formerly enslaved people of St. Croix—a Danish colony for 200 years before becoming a U.S. territory in 1917—the three white structures with pitched roofs each measure roughly 9-feet 4-inches tall, 8-feet long and 7-feet wide.
Belle’s work honors the legacy of resilience and creativity on the island and invites viewers to reflect on the complex issues surrounding colonization and cultural heritage that continue to shape contemporary society.
“At Rollins, where the museum sits within a living campus, I imagine the work in conversation with students who are also figuring out how to inhabit themselves in the world intellectually, ethically and socially,” says Belle. “I hope it sparks questions about how we construct a sense of home and how we come to belong to the places and histories that shape us.”
The installation will kick off a dynamic two-year series of works at the college that will explore architecture and the built environment through various media. The series will conclude with the debut of a commissioned piece for the museum’s new facility, which is slated to open in early 2028.
Leslie Anne Anderson, the museum’s executive director, previously collaborated with Belle and made the connection to bring The House that Freedoms Built to campus.
Adds Anderson: “Belle is one of the most compelling artists working today. What’s particularly powerful about this installation is the way it surfaces stories that might otherwise remain forgotten and encourages viewers to reflect on whose histories are preserved and whose histories are left out.”
In addition to The House That Freedoms Built, the museum will display two works from Belle’s Swarm series, which is inspired by her research in Danish colonial archives. These works will appear in a companion exhibition organized by Gisela Carbonell, museum curator, titled To Imagine a Home, which will open in September.
The Rollins Museum of Art is located at 1000 Holt Avenue on the campus of Rollins College. For more information, call 407.646.2526 or visit rollins.edu/rma.
