Pictures worth a thousand words: Four photos in Morristown tell powerful story of 1779 (2024)

What might have been an epic poem, told in images, is now more like a haiku.

Just four photographs — rather than 20 or 30 — will now tell the story of "the hard winter" of 1779-1780, when George Washington's troops endured a frigid six monthsin Morristown that was even worse than the more famous big chill of Valley Forge.

“Jockey Hollow:A Closer Look,” a photography exhibition meantforJockey Hollow Visitor Center atMorristown National Historical Park, had to be severely curtailed because ofCOVID. With the visitor's center shuttered by the pandemic, there was no longer room for the big exhibition that the artist-in-residence,Xiomáro, originally had in mind.

Instead, four photos, outward-facing, placed against the glass of four windows of the Visitor's Center (not receiving visitors for the moment) will attempt to summarize a grim moment in the Revolutionary War, when an estimated 10- to 12,000 soldiers hewed trees, built log cabins, and settled down for a glacial half-yearon the grounds of the Jockey Hollow farm in Morristown. Only about 8,000 came out alive.

The photos, on displayJune 6 to July 31, may not add up to the Homeric sagaXiomáro intended. But sometimes a haiku can be more eloquent.

"Since we have only four images, I had to be a little more surgical about it," saidXiomáro.

The four images he chose add up to more than the sum of their parts.

One is of George Washington's headquarters: the Ford mansion, which the general had commandeered. Another is the Wick House, the smaller home of the farmer who owned the property. Then there's a photo of one of the log cabins of the officers. Finally, an image of one of the log cabins of the troops.

The whole continental army suffered: that's the story these photos tell. But they didn't all suffer alike.

"I wanted them to see what life was like if they were in the Revolutionary War," Xiomáro.said. "Washington's living spaces are certainly nothing we would be comfortable with today. They were very cold very crowded, lots of illness. But if you were the farmer of the Wick House, his house is very small compared to the mansion Washington was in. If you were an officer, you lived in a cabin. And if you were a member of the rank and file, you lived in a smaller cabin. In these cabins, they had as many as 12 people. It's not some big, luxury Alpine cabin."

Along with the scaled-down exhibit, there will also be scaled-down, streaming versions of the photography classesXiomáro was to offer in conjunction with the exhibit. Visit his website,www.xiomaro.com, for more details.

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Worth a thousand words

Telling stories, through photography, is Xiomáro's specialty. His photographs have been exhibited nationwide, from Harvard University in Massachusetts to Brigham Young University in Utah to the congressional offices of Washington D.C.

It's why historic sites likeMorristown National Historical Park hire him to document their grounds, tease out their mysteries.

He's done a number of these projects now: for Everglades and Big Cypress parks in Florida, for the Boston Harbor islands, for Sagamore Hill, Teddy Roosevelt's compound near Oyster Bay, New York. One project evolved into a book:"Weir Farm National HistoricSite" (2019), with a forward by former senator Joe Lieberman. "Joe Lieberman sponsored the bill that established Weir Farms [in Connecticut] as a national park,"Xiomáro said.

That'sXiomáro — pronounced“SEE-oh-MAH-ro." It's not his real name. Since in his other, non-artistic life, he's a high-profile corporate lawyer, he thought it best to have plausible deniability. But the pseudonym, with its Latin roots, does speak to something real in his background.

"My father was from Cuba, my mother is from Puerto Rico," he said. "Our heritage traces back to Spain, and particularly the Canary Islands. And so, when I decided to pursue photography seriously as an art form, I wanted to have a pseudonym that would be noticeable." And so, Xiomáro. One word. "I'm like Madonna," he said. "Or maybe Prince."

He himself is American from birth: born in Brooklyn, now residing in Roslyn Heights, Long Island. But his Latin roots give him an interesting angle on one of his favorite subjects: American History. "I'm almost a Latino Ken Burns," he said.

He also resembles "Hamilton" creatorLin-Manuel Miranda — in looks not least,but also in a belief that American history is for everyone, not just the dwindling number who can trace their heritage to the Mayflower.

"You don't have to be a middle-American white person to be patriotic," he said. "You can be a Brooklyn-bred Latino and be very patriotic as well. That's why I intentionally wanted a name that was very ethnic-sounding, hard to pronounce. BecauseI wanted to draw attention to the fact that you can have somebody who is very ethnic, who is quintessentially American. I can be into George Washington, too."

There's also another reason, he admits, that he's into 18th century American history.

Xiomáro is also a musician. A multi-instrumentalist. He's been in bands with names likeSkuzmo Skunk (punk), Ra-Zipsa!(new wave), and Temple of Mud (eclectic). He knows pop culture. And he knows a great costume when he sees one.

"I like the clothes they wore back then," he said. "I'd wear them, but mix it up with blue jeans and boots. Like Paul Revere &the Raiders, Jimi Hendrix, Prince. I like that look."

Jim Beckerman is an entertainment and culture reporter for NorthJersey.com. For unlimited access tohis insightfulreports about how you spend your leisure time,please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

Email:beckerman@northjersey.com

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