Past Exhibitions

October 28, 2004 - February 21, 2005

Engaging the Camera:
African Women, Portraits and the Photography of Hector Acebes
Brochure (PDF)
Press Release (PDF)
Photo Gallery
Events

Hector Acebes Foula Woman Guinea, 1953 gelatin silver print 20 x 24 inches (AII-012-03) Courtesy Hector Acebes Archive

Engaging the Camera is the first major exhibition in the United States to feature the photographs of Hector Acebes. A Colombian photographer and cinematographer who traveled to Africa in 1947, 1948 and 1953, Acebes used two Rolleiflex camera (one color and the other black and white) to photograph many of the people and places he encountered. Many of his nearly 400 rolls of film from the late 1940s and early 1950s remained in print form and were stored away until 2001. In this debut exhibition, photographs of African women by African, American and European photographers are juxtaposed with those by Acebes. Engaging the Camera examines themes including the divide between art and ethnography, gender and the African female body as spectacle, further enhancing the rich and complex history of photographing African people.

 

July 15- September 25, 2004
Carrie Mae Weems: The Louisiana Project & Dreaming in Cuba
Brochure (PDF)
Photo Gallery

This exhibition features two recently completed series by internationally renowned artist Carrie Mae Weems. The Louisiana Project incorporates still photography, narrative and video projection as part of an exploration of culture, gender and race. While the series examines the complex history of New Orleans and the conflation of cultures that have resulted, the implications extend far beyond Louisiana. Using the symbolism of shadow play and the mirror as means of reflection, The Louisiana Project investigates how perceptions of investigates how perceptions of history, black women, race relations and sexual identity have been shaped. Commissioned in 2003 to commemorate the Bicentennial of the Louisiana Purchase, this installation was organized by the Newcomb Art Gallery of Tulane University.

The muse that prompts contemporary viewers to challenge their own perceptions in The Louisiana Project, is also featured in Dreaming in Cuba, a series of silver prints that is inspired by the history and people of Cuba. Weems, positioned as muse who is immersed in the landscape, home and workplace of the Cuban people, raises questions about the essence and spirituality of social revolution.

 

January 2004

Brochure (PDF)

iona rozeal brown: a³… black on both sides

iona rozeal brown a³…blackface #20 acrylic on paper

The Spelman College Museum of Fine Art will present iona rozeal brown: a³…black on both sides beginning January 22, 2004. iona brown's paintings are an unprecedented mixture of anonymous courtesans, geisha and other Japanese subjects in blackface. As one of the nation's most exciting emerging artists, brown explores the theme of a³, afro-asiatic allegory, in her first major solo project black on both sides. brown's paintings address the global influence of hip hop, commercialism and African American culture as fetish. Works in this exhibition examine many provocative issues including: blackface performance, Japanese youth culture and its current fascination with hip hop and the various ways hip hop has become an international commodity. This exhibition, curated by Andrea D. Barnwell, Director of the Museum, includes more than 45 works by brown and ephemera that contextualizes the history of blackface performance traditions in Japan.

brown's work signals the energy, critical direction and complexity of contemporary practice. On one hand, her work is informed by the geisha, courtesans and artists depicted in 17th century Ukiyo-e woodblock prints. On the other hand, her subjects are unmistakably influenced by 21st century popular culture. The women subjects don elaborate couture-inspired kimonos, afros, cornrows, expensive jewelry and extravagant acrylic nails. Like the protagonists featured in many hip hop and rap videos, they flaunt multi-million dollar lifestyles and excess. Their darkened faces contrast significantly with the stark white face make-up that is frequently associated with geisha, privileged classes, affluence and sensuality in Japanese cultures, creating an arresting dissonance that challenges historical notions of race and cultural identity.

iona rozeal brown a³…blackface #21 acrylic on paper

The men subjects in this series, also in blackface, show off a particular machismo that includes stylized braids, exposed tattoos and seemingly permanent scowls. While brown's provocative figures respond to current trends among select Japanese teens and young adults, they also prompt larger questions about how hip hop culture is translated and transported internationally. Throughout, brown brings a subversive reading to her art and manipulates the figures to articulate contemporary concerns regarding race, gender and class.

A Washington, D.C. native who recently earned an MFA in painting from Yale University, brown is currently gaining substantial acclaim. Her work has been featured in galleries and in several group exhibitions in New York, Washington, D.C. and California. a³…black on both sides introduces brown to audiences in the southeast for the first time. a³…black on both sides is accompanied by a catalogue with contributions by Andrea D. Barnwell, Valerie Cassel (Associate Curator at the Contemporary Art Museum, Houston) and Franklin Sirmans (New York-based critic and independent Curator).

The Spelman College Museum of Fine Art is the only museum in the nation that focuses on works by and about women of the African Diaspora. iona rozeal brown: a³…black on both sides, on view through May 14, 2004, exemplifies this unique mission. This original project focuses on the importance and sophistication of brown's work and her ability to fuse humor with astute social commentary. brown's work moves beyond current Japanese trends and the superficial and commercialized fascination with hip hop culture. She investigates how culture is imitated by temporarily assuming new identities through clothes, accessories and music.

iona rozeal brown: a³…black on both sides is made possible through support from The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and the Peter Norton Family Foundation. Additional support has been provided by the Fulton County Arts Council and the Friends of the Spelman College Museum of Fine Art.

 

 

January 2004

Sandford Biggers Mandala for B-bodhisattva II, 2000 Brochure (PDF) While New York's borough of the Bronx is widely accepted as the birthplace of hip hop in the early 1970s, hip hop culture is now an international phenomenon. The popularization of hip hop can be seen in communities worldwide. Its clothing and imagery transcend race, class, economics and cultural spheres. And although graffiti art, DJing, rapping and break dancing -- the essential elements of hip hop -- have all received popular and critical attention, One Planet under a Groove is the first exhibition devoted to visual artists whose work is informed by elements of hip hop culture. Previous hip hop exhibitions have focused on historically significant artifacts, such as CDs, videos and clothing. This exhibition, in contrast features works by visual artists who draw from the aesthetic, political and social contexts of hip hop culture. The works in One Planet under a Groove reflect the evolution of hip hop from an underground urban street culture to a billion-dollar industry. The Spelman College Museum of Fine Art is proud to present One Planet under a Groove: Hip Hop and Contemporary Art, the first exhibition to examine the transnational impact of hip hop culture on contemporary art. The exhibition features the work of 30 visual artists based in the United States, Europe and Japan. This landmark exhibition that was organized by the Bronx Museum of the Arts is comprised of more than 60 works including paintings, sculpture, drawings, photographs, installations and videos, all created in the past two decades by artists who have been influences by hip hop music and its culture. Prominent artists in the exhibition include Jean-Michel Basquiat, David Hammons, Keith Haring, Chris Ofili, Adrian Piper and Gary Simmons. The exhibition's title plays off the similarity titled 1978 hi hop anthem by Parliament Funkadelic, whose music has been widely sampled by hip hop acts. Curated by Lydia Yee (Curator at the Bronx Museum of the Arts) and Franklin Sirmans (New York-based critic and independent curator) One Planet under a Groove is the second exhibition in the Museum's series, "The Year of the Contemporary." This exhibition and related programs examine the dynamic fabric of hip hop culture, its perceptions and its inherent contradictions. One Planet under a Groove: Hip Hop and Contemporary Art is organized by The Bronx Museum of the Arts. The exhibition is made possible, in part, by The Rockefeller Foundation and The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. Spelman College's presentation of One Planet under a Groove : Hip Hop and Contemporary Art was made possible through the generous support of Bank of America, Kodak, Georgia-Pacific, and Omega Media Marketing Group.

Fall 2002

Keith Piper TRANSFORMER: Tracing the Automaton's Bloodline (2001)

    Brochure (PDF - 416kb)
 

Race in Digital Space, a nationally touring exhibition which originated at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) List Visual Arts Center, features the work of more than 50 artists and includes film, video, net.art, CDRoms, websites and aural mixes. This survey of electronic media presents art created from the 1960s through the present. “Digital Space” is deliberately treated as a fluid, changing and elastic term. Older work is juxtaposed against more recently completed work and, consequently, the art in Race in Digital Space creates and reveals relationships between various media. The project originally focused specifically on artists who employ digital and electronic tools to create black aesthetics that exemplify theories of race and nation. Because of the widespread interest in cultural hybridity among contemporary artists, the focus expanded. Thus, the work in this exhibition explores how technology reconfigures broader constructions of race and ethnicity.

Ina Diane Archer, Le Tete sans Corps (Trailer), 1996 Video, 2:05. Collection of the artist.

Employing digital as well as analog tools, the artists’ works expand beyond the confines of the computer monitor therefore functioning both inside and outside of “the box.” The featured artists use digital tools to comment on digital culture, reconfigure histories and imagine future realities. The purpose of this project is not to create a reactionary critique of racism. Instead, Race in Digital Space aims to offer examples of work by artists who inhabit electronic space and engage new media in creative and progressive ways. Although this exhibition features a multicultural crew of creators, the majority of the artists are of African descent and utilize new media tools to address their cultural heritage from a variety of perspectives. This exhibition repositions and legitimizes many peoples and processes of the hi-tech vanguard that have been ignored, unrecognized and written out of multimedia and new media histories. The intent of this show is to offer examples of how technology reconfigures identities and artistic practices, influencing the creation of culturally diverse work.

Erika Dalya Muhammad
Guest Curator

Sanford Biggers (with David Ellis), Mandala of the B-bodhisattva I, video (2000)

THE SPELMAN COLLEGE MUSEUM OF FINE ART is proud to present Race in Digital Space, a nationally touring exhibition curated by Erika Dalya Muhammad and organized by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) List Visual Arts Center. This exhibition features film and video programs, interactive digital salons and sonic exercises. The 54 artists represented in this exhibition manipulate traditional artistic experiences, explore difficult themes and stretch the boundaries of race and nation. Race in Digital Space and its related educational programs combine interactive engagement, the arts of the African Diaspora, contemporary art and new media works.

Prema Murthy, Bindigirl (website)

Since it was established in 1881 Spelman College has demonstrated a sustained emphasis on science, technology and art. It is fitting that Race in Digital Space, the Museum’s inaugural exhibition featuring contemporary art, concludes its national tour at the Spelman College Museum of Fine Art.

Andrea D. Barnwell, Ph.D.
Director
Spelman College Museum of Fine Art

Race in Digital Space debuted at the MIT List Visual Arts Center. Major support from the List Visual Arts Center is provided by the Massachusetts Cultural Council and the Council for the Arts at MIT. Additional support for the program has been provided by USC Annenberg Center for Communication, MIT Committee on Campus Race Relations, MIT Comparative Media Studies and the Rockefeller Foundation and Ford Foundation as part of the USC-MIT Conference on Race in Digital Space, which was co-organized by MIT, USC, UCSB and NYU in Cambridge, Massachusetts (April 2001)

Spelman College’s presentation of Race in Digital Space was made possible through generous contributions from the Booth Ferris Foundation and the Omega Media Marketing Group. Support for educational programs was provided by Georgia Pacific. Race in Digital Space is presented in partnership with the Media Arts Society of Spelman (MASS) and the Departments of Art, Drama and Dance, Computer Science and Educational Media.

Spring 2002

The Walter O. Evans Collection of African American Art
(May 17 - September 14, 2002)

Dr. Walter O. Evans, a distinguished Savannah-based surgeon and bibliophile, is one of the foremost collectors of African American art. When he purchased a portfolio of prints by Jacob Lawrence in the late 1970s, Dr. Evans did not plan to amass a significant collection of African American art. But as he learned more about this underexamined aspect of American art and developed friendships with several prominent black artists, he conceived a passion for collecting. Now, more than twenty years after acquiring his first piece of fine art, Dr. Evans has assembled a phenomenal collection.

 

The Walter O. Evans Collection of African American Art includes choice works by pioneering Nineteenth Century artists including Edward Mitchell Bannister, Robert Scott Duncanson, Mary Edmonia Lewis, Charles Ethan Porter, and Henry Ossawa Tanner.
It also features noteworthy pieces by Twentieth Century celebrated innovators such as Richmond Barthé, Romare Bearden, Elizabeth Catlett, Aaron Douglas, Richard Hunt, Jacob Lawrence, Archibald J. Motley, Jr., Alma Thomas, and Charles White.

The Spelman College Museum of Fine Art is proud to present this significant collection that reaffirms the vital contributions that African Americans continue to make to the nation's culture and represents more than one hundred and fifty years of African American achievement.

 

 

The Walter O. Evans Collection of African American Art has been featured in several museums and galleries throughout the nation since 1991. In the early 1990s it was exhibited at the Hammonds House Galleries in Atlanta. Over the years the Evans Collection has grown exponentially. Now, more than ten years after its debut in Atlanta, Spelman College is privileged to exhibit 80 works from this exceptional collection during the 2002 National Blacks Arts Festival.

The Walter O. Evans Collection of African American Art was made possible through the generous support of the Georgia Council for the Arts and Bank of America. Support for the educational programs is provided by the Fulton County Board of Commissioners through the Fulton County Arts Council.

 

Fall 2001

Through These Eyes: The Photographs of P.H. Polk (October 16, 2001 - April 13, 2002) In commemoration of its fifth anniversary, the Spelman College Museum of Fine Art is pleased to present Through These Eyes: The Photographs of P.H. Polk, the nationally touring exhibition organized and circulated by the University Galleries of the University of Delaware featuring extraordinary photographs from the Paul R. Jones Collection. From 1939 until his death in 1984, Prentice Herman Polk held the position of official photographer at Tuskegee Institute (now Tuskegee University). Owning one of the few private studios in Alabama's Macon County area, Polk throughout his distinguished career photographed well-known subjects such as acclaimed scientist George Washington Carver, the Tuskegee Airmen and heavyweight boxer Joe Louis. The images of dignitaries who visited Tuskegee, photographs of middle-class African Americans who frequented his private studio and portraits of farmers and laborers who worked the cotton fields of rural Macon County exemplify Polk's keen ability to tell riveting stories of African American life in the segregated South.

“Through These Eyes: The Photographs of P.H. Polk” is organized by University Gallery, University of Delaware. Spelman College Museum of Fine Art's presentation of this exhibition was made possible through the generous support of Kodak, AT&T and the University of Delaware. Support for the educational programs is provided by the Fulton County Board of Commissioners through the Fulton County Arts Council.

Spring 2001

Blending Old and New: Works from the Spelman College Collection opened on February 6, 2001. This exhibition showcasing the permanent holdings of the Museum featured new acquisitions by Selma Burke, Sam Gilliam, Herman Kofi Bailey and Hale Woodruff and several works from the permanent collection that have never been on view. On May 17, 2001, the exhibition was formally dedicated to Mrs. Jenelsie Walden Holloway, former Chair of the Spelman College Department of Art.

 

Summer 2000

When the Spirit Moves: African American Art Inspired by Dance was presented by the Spelman College Museum of Fine Art from June 20 through November 18, 2000. Examining dance as a subject in African American Art, this exhibition explored the African and southern sources of dance, its importance to the community and its power to sustain and nurture. Artists with a compelling interest in the art of dance created the selected works. Some were dancers themselves, while others were motivated by the moods and movements associated with dance. The result was a powerful visual statement on how African dance forms have evolved over the centuries while maintaining an irresistible vitality that continues to shape American dance. This exhibition presented a broad spectrum of superb two- and three-dimensional works by more than thirty-five prominent artists, including Benny Andrews, Richmond Barthé, Romare Bearden, John Biggers, Elizabeth Catlett, Louis Delsarte, Palmer Hayden, Richard Hunt, Valerie Maynard, Archibald J. Motley, Jr., Sam Gilliam and Howardena Pindell.

Echoes: The Art of David Driskell and Ascendancy: The Art of Romare Bearden were presented concurrently from March 21 to May 22, 2000. Echoes, a retrospective exhibition, examined the work that Driskell created from his early years as a student at Howard University to his most recent landscapes of Maine. In these works Driskell has presented his vision of nature, humanity and spirituality through masterful applications of color and form. His exploration of subjects ranged from the Diaspora to the beauty and magic of the universe. This personal connection to nature and spiritual link to African roots are the essence of Driskell's artistic vision. The exhibition was organized by the Art Gallery at the University of Maryland at College Park as a tribute to Driskell's twenty-two years of distinguished service to the university.

Ascendancy: The Art of Romare Bearden featured collages and prints from Atlanta collections by one of America's most innovative artists. Organized by the Spelman College Museum of Fine Art as a companion exhibition to Echoes, this exhibition explored classical and contemporary themes taken from literature, music and reconstructed memories from Bearden's Southern roots.

Fall 1999

The 1999 - 2000 academic year began in grand style with the opening of two fall exhibitions: Elizabeth Catlett Sculpture: A Fifty-Year Retrospective and Selected Catlett Prints from Atlanta Area Collections. The opening reception was the most exciting Museum event of the fall. The program "A Life of Form and Function: A Conversation between Artists" was an exciting exchange between esteemed artist Elizabeth Catlett and author/playwright Pearl Cleage. During this witty and informative conversation, Catlett discussed the importance of the visual arts in our daily lives and explained that "we must educate the educators." Unveiled immediately after the program, the exhibitions received rave reviews. More than 500 guests at the opening were inspired by the beauty of Catlett's sculpture and works on paper. From September 11 to November 13, nearly 3,000 visitors from throughout the United States and abroad viewed the exhibitions.