The eight works in this exhibition are on loan from The Petrucci Family Foundation, which began to collect the works of Black Artists in 2012 in “the belief that we cannot truly understand American history without understanding African American history.” The collection now includes more than 500 works of art in all media. Based in Asbury, New Jersey, the Foundation’s mission is to support education and create opportunities for Americans at every stage and station of life.
While the artists in this exhibition incorporate varying themes, techniques, and materials, the works in this exhibition have found common ground. Each work focuses on children as the subject and each tackles the creative process in unique ways. Not content to use photography, painting, printmaking or collage traditionally, the artists innovate, developing work that is arresting and beautiful while also making profound statements.
Katrina Andry brings a slave revolt in 1811 into the present. She depicts her son with a lit match, referencing an attempt to burn down plantations. Andry raises questions about what would have happened had the revolt succeeded. Lavett Ballard incorporates photographs of women from the African diaspora and uses fences as symbols of the barriers they face. Tawney Chatmon manipulates photographs, often exaggerating the subjects’ hair, changing their eyes, and elongating their bodies.
She embellishes with paint and mixed media, recalls the Byzantine period, and adds ornate frames to create a sense of importance. Tokie Rome-Taylor investigates ethnography, identity, history, and memory in her work, and in the series shown here, explores the legacy of plants that were and are still used by her ancestors for medicinal and spiritual purposes. On preserved tobacco and other indigenous leaves, Accra Shepp presents photographic portraits of those who worked the crops and farmland. All the works in this exhibition reference the African American experience while drawing upon the artists’ distinctive styles.
Featured Artists include: Tokie Rome-Taylor, Accra Shepp, Katrina Andry, Tawny Chatmon, and Lavett Ballard
