Testimony
This edition of 50 handmade books initially evokes a feeling of nostalgia, but that impression is quickly unsettled by the nature of the texts themselves. Each page is rolled like an ancient decree and returned to its slipcase. The texts are deliberately unreadable, reflecting the impossibility of reducing a complex series of events to a single, “true” history. The Testimony series was inspired by a disturbing episode I encountered while researching the history of homosexuality in the United States.
In the spring of 1919, officers at the Newport Naval Training Station in Rhode Island dispatched young enlisted men into the community to investigate what they described as “immoral conditions.” Acting as decoys, the men sought out suspected homosexuals, engaged in sexual encounters with them, and gathered evidence about homosexual activity in Newport. Their testimony led to the arrest and prosecution of sailors and civilians.
The investigation became a national controversy when one of those accused was an Episcopal clergyman working at the YMCA. His case prompted protests from local ministers and the Episcopal Bishop of Rhode Island, as well as criticism in the press. A subsequent naval inquiry criticized the methods used in the investigation, and in 1921 the Senate Naval Affairs Committee conducted its own investigation. The committee ultimately vindicated the minister's allegations and condemned the conduct of senior naval officials involved, including Franklin D. Roosevelt, then Assistant Secretary of the Navy.
The Testimony books transform this historical record into an object in which testimony exists but cannot be read—suggesting both the instability of historical truth and the ways in which evidence can be shaped, suppressed, or distorted by those who record it.