Network of Mutuality
Network of Mutuality: 50 Years Post-Birmingham brought together works that address the injustices of 1963 and contrast today’s contentious-yet-critical issues of race, representation, and otherness.
Summary
I initiated this project to call attention to the progress (and lack thereof) that we as a society have made in terms of race and racial oppression since the Civil Rights Movement.
Together with Ruth Lozner, I selected provocative works that addressed the injustices that led to the Civil Rights Movement and prompted a reconsideration of where we are today in terms of racial progress. The exhibition coincided with the 50-year anniversary of the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham, Martin Luther King’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” and his “I Have a Dream” speech, among other events.
Exhibiting artists and designers included Glenn Ligon, James Victore, Kenneth Gonzales-Day, Michael Paul Britto, Archie Boston, Michael Platt, Faith Ringgold, Chaz Maviyane-Davies, Luba Lukova, Karina Aguilera Skvirsky, Frances Jetter, and Tam Joseph. We also included a participatory chalk wall to engage audiences in conversation about the works.
The exhibition opened at The Art Gallery on UMD campus and traveled to the Levine Museum of the New South.
Co-curator
Collaborating Partners
David C. Driskell Center, The Art Gallery at UMD, Lafayette College
Details
1963 began with newly inaugurated Alabama Governor George Wallace proclaiming “Segregation today . . . segregation tomorrow . . . segregation forever.” The year ended with President John F. Kennedy being assassinated after he initiated what would become the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964.
How Would Your Life Be Different? Chalkboard
This prompt asks visitors to consider how their life might be different of they had been born of a different race, gender, religion or sexual orientation.
