JACK. O LANTON

Jack. O Lanton captures the fierce presence of a local spirit on St. Helena’s Island, South Carolina, where Sam Doyle resided his entire life. With a backwards head and the ability to ignite his everlasting flame at any moment, Jacks were feared by most residents. Doyle’s paintings functioned as social commentary and story-telling for his community. He became the Island’s illustrious scribe, displaying his works in the “Out Door Art Gallery” in his yard. The Jack O Lanton was a spirit of Gullah folklore. Jack would linger by ponds or materialize on rainy or misty nights. He would fish and use a light beaming from his back to help see. Doyle believed the Jack had a strong presence in the community but was not malicious (Betty M. Kuyk, African Voices in the African American Heritage, Bloomington, 2003, pg. 79). Doyle painted another Jack. O. Lanton circa 1978-1981, where a blazing red Jack holds his fishing rod against a similar blue background. In the present work, Jack’s vividly red eyes, nostrils, and tongue are in distinct contrast to the neutral white body and black hair. Doyle’s clever uses of color and text add another dimension to the work. The blue background corresponds to the blue paint that trimmed houses throughout the island for protection against spirits. Betty Kuyk examines reversed aspects in the work in relation to the Gullah community's African roots, where death was handled through ritual reversals. The first ‘N’ in ‘LANTON’, Jack’s backwards head, and the light protruding from his back indicate that Jack is in mpemba, land of the dead.

Historian Betty Kuyk and her husband Dutch met Sam Doyle on Lady's Island, where he lived near Beaufort, South Carolina and where they shared in storytelling together.