Page 18 - JOA-2-22

On Topic … Information and News

Black Heritage Square and Emancipation Arts LLC were recently awarded
American a grant from Arizona for continued work on The Great Migration in
Arizona History Project. The project consists of five related activities
Portraits on designed to collect, preserve, and share the African American experience
Tour Now at in Arizona and builds on work already begun by Emancipation Arts
which includes an oral history workshop for youth and senior citizens, a
LACMA statewide call for essays, an exhibition companion guide for teachers, and
through April an archives workshop. The impact of The Great Migration in Arizona

17, 2022 has had little acknowledgment in politics, education, or media.
As a result, African-American residents have been locked into an
indiscernible status. Furthermore, the history of African Americans has
To complement the
presentation of The been distilled to a few rote incidents and names with little insight or
relevance to current-day realities.
Obama Portraits by The Great Migration in Arizona History Project seeks to recognize
Kehinde Wiley and African-American residents as Indiscernibles and to transform them
Amy Sherald on tour into residents who are valued and feel they belong. This work is needed
from the Smithsonian’s now more than ever as our society struggles with justice for all and a
Portrait of a Sailor (Paul Cuffe?) circa 1800 National Portrait Gallery legacy of abuse of African-Americans and Blacks.
(NPG), the Los Angeles
“We are thrilled to receive support from Arizona Humanities for our
County Museum of Art (LACMA) presents Black American Portraits: continued partnership with Emancipation Arts.” said Executive
Remembering Two Centuries of Black American Art. Guest curated by Director of Heritage Square, Kari Carlisle. “These programs are
David Driskell at LACMA 45 years ago, this exhibition reframes por- important to the strategic direction of Heritage Square and strengthen
traiture to center Black American subjects, sitters, and spaces. Spanning our ties to the community. Our partnerships with SRP (srpnet.com)
over two centuries from c. 1800 to the present day, this selection of and ASU’s Virginia G. Piper Center for Creative Writing
approximately 150 works draws primarily from LACMA’s permanent (piper.asu.edu) contribute greatly to this project’s success.”
collection. The featured portraits highlight Black American portraiture Heritage Square is a 501c-3 nonprofit organization, dedicated to
from Emancipation and early studio photography through the Harlem preserving and sharing the stories, collection, historic buildings and grounds
Renaissance, the Civil Rights and Black Power eras, and into the 1990s. of Heritage Square, serving as a relevant, engaging, and inclusive
Black American Portraits chronicles the ways in which Black Americans community resource and as a tangible connection to our diverse local
have used portraiture to envision themselves in their own eyes. history. Learn more at www.heritagesquarephx.org
Countering a visual culture that often demonizes Blackness and
fetishizes the spectacle of Black pain, these images center on love, W
abundance, family, community, and exuberance.
The Black American Portraits exhibition soundtrack is available,
and celebrates the radiance of Black musical culture in its most joyful Afro-Atlantic
forms, featuring song selections from several of the artists represented Histories Touring
in the show: Karon Davis, Reggie Burrows Hodges, Shinique Smith, Exhibit
and Umar Rashid, alongside additional song curation by dublab’s Mark
“Frosty” McNeill. Afro-Atlantic Histories
Credit: This exhibition is organized by the Los Angeles County Museum juxtaposes works by artists
of Art. For more information, visit www.lacma.org/art/exhibition/black- from 24 countries, representing
american-portraits evolving perspectives across
W time and geography through
The Great major paintings, drawings
and prints, sculptures, photo-
Migration: graphs, time-based media art,
Indiscernibles and ephemera. The range
extends from historical paint-
In Arizona Into Bondage by Aaron Douglas, 1936, ings by Frans Post, Jean-
New to Heritage oil on canvas, National Gallery of Art, Baptiste Debret, and Dirk
Square (Phoenix, AZ), Washington, DC, Corcoran Collection Valkenburg to contemporary
this exhibit explores works by Ibrahim Mahama,
Arizona’s part in the Kara Walker, and Melvin Edwards.
migration of African Maps and Margins illustrates the beginnings of the slave trade as it
Americans from the unfolded across the Atlantic between Africa, the Americas, and Europe.
rural South to the cities of the North, Midwest, and West from approx- Highlights include artworks which reference the widely reproduced
imately 1915 to 1970. Mainstream narratives of the state have previously British Abolitionist document “description of a slave ship” (1789), an
marginalized Black people and left out their stories, rendering them illustration that clinically detailed a slave ship’s cargo hold; and Aaron
indiscernible. This exhibit tells their story, exploring the search for new Douglas’ painting Into Bondage (1936), a powerful portrayal of the
beginnings and financial opportunity, as well as the experiences of moment when a group of Africans are taken to a slave ship bound for
racism and isolation faced by both early migratory cotton pickers and the Americas.
newer residents. It provides a glimpse into the lives of ordinary Black Portraits spotlights Black leaders of the 18th and 19th centuries who
Arizonans, celebrates the survival of their ancestors, and of their estab- have not traditionally been memorialized in historical American and
lishment of enduring and thriving communities in the Valley of the Sun. European portraiture.
This exhibit is part of a larger multi-disciplinary project of the same Everyday Lives features images of daily life in Black communities
name developed by Emancipation Arts, LLC in collaboration with during and after slavery, in realistic and romanticized views.
ASU’s School of Human Evolution and Social Change.

16 Journal of Antiques and Collectibles