Shirah Dedman, Phoebe Dedman, and Luz Myles visiting Shreveport, Louisiana, where in 1912 their relative Thomas Miles, Sr., was lynched (2017). Photo: Rog Walker and Bee Walker for the Equal Justice Initiative.
On Wednesday the Brooklyn Museum is opening a powerful new exhibition on the history of lynchings in the U.S. Entitled The Legacy of Lynching: Confronting Racial Terror in America, the exhibition includes work by Sanford Biggers, Kara Walker and Glenn Ligon alongside an interactive exhibit by the Equal Justice Initiative. Based on research of 4,000 lynchings of African-Americans between 1877 and 1950, the interactive exhibit includes a short film, audio stories, an interactive map, and is also available online.
“Our nation’s history of racial injustice casts a shadow across the American landscape,” said EJI Executive Director Bryan Stevenson. “This shadow cannot be lifted until we shine the light of truth on the destructive violence that shaped our nation, traumatized people of color, and compromised our commitment to the rule of law and equal justice. We all must engage this history more honestly.”
Events & exhibitions
New York City
- Tuesday, July 25, 6-10pm—The Brooklyn Museum is hosting a talk between the founder of the Equal Justice Initiative, Bryan Stevenson, and artists Sanford Biggers and Glenn Ligon. Organized in conjunction with the museum’s new exhibition The Legacy of Lynching, the panel discussion will be moderated by poet, essayist, and playwright Elizabeth Alexander.
- Tuesday, July 25, 6:30pm—Trevor Paglen will be in conversation at the Guggenheim Museum with the director of the ACLU’s Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project, Ben Wizner. Addressing surveillance and civil liberties in the age of hacking, the talk will be moderated by the museum’s Curator of Performance and Media, Nat Trotman.
- New York Close Up artist Jaimie Warren has a new solo exhibition opening at The Hole this Wednesday. Titled One Sweet Day, the exhibition’s opening reception will be held Wednesday from 6-9pm, and it will be on view through August 27. [Read a feature on the artist in VICE.]
- Friday, July 28, 6:30–7:30pm—Artists Caroline Woolard, Alexander Rosenberg, Helen Lee, and Lika Volkova, will be discussing their collaborative project, Carried on Both Sides, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s MetFridays. Reflecting on the future of communication, the project was the subject of our most recent New York Close Up film, “Caroline Woolard’s Floating Possibility.” Register here.
- This is the last week to see Unfinished Conversations: New Work from the Collection, closing this Sunday at MoMA. Featuring work by Kara Walker among others, the exhibition “considers the intertwining themes of social protest and the effect of history on the formation of identity.” [Read a review in Hyperallergic.]
Rockland, ME
- Tuesday, July 25, 5:30-7:30pm—William Wegman is presenting a slide talk on his work at the Strand Theatre as part of the Center for Maine Contemporary Art’s Tuesday Talk series. Tickets are $15.
Columbus, OH
- This is the last week to see the exhibition Gray Matters—which explores 37 contemporary women artists’ practice of grisaille—at Wexner Center for the Arts. Featuring work by Vija Celmins, Josephine Halvorson, Roni Horn, Julie Mehretu, Mary Reid Kelley, Arlene Shechet, Erin Shirreff, Avery Singer, and Kara Walker among others, the exhibition closes this Sunday, July 30. [Read reviews in The Columbus Dispatch and Hyperallergic.]
Santa Fe
- Lannan Foundation Gallery’s new exhibition, Something Fierce, includes work by Roni Horn and An-My Lê, and is on view through September 17.
Los Angeles
- Mixografia’s 2017 Summer Group Show opens this Saturday, July 29 and features work by John Baldessari and Lynda Benglis, among others. Baldessari will present his newest completed body of work, and the show will be on view through August 26.
Honolulu
- Shahzia Sikander’s multichannel installation, Parallax, is closing this Sunday at the Honolulu Museum of Art.
London
- A selection of Bruce Nauman’s work is opening today in the Tate Modern’s Artist Rooms gallery. His 2004 sound installation Raw Materials is also on view in the museum’s Turbine Hall.
- Ida Applebroog’s Mercy Hospital, a collection of drawings completed by the artist in 1969 and 1970, is closing this Saturday, July 29 at Hauser & Wirth London.
It’s impossible to include all the incredible exhibitions and art events happening this week in a single post. If there’s something you feel should have been included in today’s roundup, leave a comment below!