Depreciation (artwork)
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| Depreciation | |
|---|---|
 The exhibition components of Depreciation at the National Gallery of Art in 2022. | |
 | |
| Artist | Cameron Rowland |
| Year | 2018 |
| Medium | Restrictive covenant; 1 acre on Edisto Island, South Carolina |
| Location | Edisto Island, South Carolina |
| Owner | Dia Art Foundation (long-term loan) |
Depreciation is a work of conceptual land art by American artist Cameron Rowland completed in 2018. The work comprises one acre of land in South Carolina on the site of a former slave plantation which had previously, briefly, been given as reparations to formerly enslaved people, along with legal documents relating to the land. Rowland has set several restrictions on the land, rendering it unusable and undevelopable. The artist has also directed viewers not to visit the land, representing the work in exhibitions with legal documents.[1]
Critics and art historians - and the artist - have suggested that the work represents a critique of property in the United States, showcasing the links between real estate, land use, and the history of slavery in America.[1][2][3]
Originally created for an exhibition of Rowland's work at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, Depreciation has since been shown in multiple notable group exhibitions at galleries and museums in the United States and internationally. In 2023 the Dia Art Foundation entered into a long-term loan agreement with Rowland to steward the work as part of Dia's constellation of permanent art installations.[1][4]
Using funding for their exhibition D37 (2018) at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, Rowland purchased one acre of land on the former Maxcy Place slave plantation on Edisto Island, South Carolina.[3] The property had previously been set aside for and briefly settled by newly freed black families as part of Special Field Orders No. 15, also known as the Forty acres and a mule promise, toward the end of the American Civil War.[2] Following the war, President Andrew Johnson subsequently returned the land to its pre-war owners as the American government withdrew many of its commitments to formerly enslaved people.[2]
After purchasing it in 2018, Rowland imposed a series of permanent covenant restrictions on the land, forbidding in perpetuity any use of, improvement to, or development on the property, rendering it financially worthless, as confirmed by a property appraisal.[2] Covenant restrictions in the United States were historically used by white property owners and communities to enforce segregation by excluding black people from buying homes in their neighborhoods.[2] In the text that accompanies the work, Rowland wrote that "As reparation, this covenant asks how land might exist outside of the legal-economic regime of property that was instituted by slavery and colonization."[5] The artist has deemed that the physical land itself is "not for visitation," and the work is represented in exhibitions with framed copies of the deed to the property, its covenant restrictions, and an appraisal report valuing the land at $0.[1]
Location
The property is located at 8060 Maxie Road on Edisto Island, South Carolina.[1]