This photo is of Dr. Tara Dudley (left) and Dr. Rowena Dasch (right) at the Neill-Cochran House Museum in Austin. Fermata worked with Tara and Rowena on the restoration and interpretation of the NCHM Slave Quarters, and the installation of three murals in the main house is one of the final steps in this multi-year effort. I have been honored to serve on the team with Tara and Rowena in bringing this history to light.

The murals are by the Austin artist Fidencio Duran, and reflect scenes and activities of antebellum Austin. In this example you see a young enslaved boy, Lamb, teaching a blind man how to weave a basket. Lamb lived in the slave quarters during the period (beginning in November 1856) that the NCHM served the Republic of Texas as the “Blind Institute.” The women in the background are butchering and rendering a hog.

This mural is installed in the doorway that leads to the kitchen. The two additional murals are installed in windows in the main house.