THE POLITICS OF HAIR: BLACK TENNESSEE
UNRAVELING
ETANGLING
Cover image
Hair Tension Photograph Carlton Wilkinson
Detangling/Unraveling The Politics of Hair: Black Tennessee Š Slocumb Galleries and Participating Artists, 2018 | All rights reserved Images and artist statements courtesy of the Artists and representatives. | Gallery exhibition images taken by Slocumb Galleries staff and Carlton Wilkinson. All images of work are copyright property of the artists. | Catalogue design by Alice Salyer
DETANGLING/ UNRAVELING THE POLITICS OF HAIR: BLACK TENNESSEE ARTISTS
Curated by Karlota Contreras-Koterbay and Karen Sullivan
September 6 to 28, 2018 • Tipton Gallery Reception: September 7, First Friday, 6 to 8 p.m., during UMOJA Unity Fest Performance of ‘Madam C.J. Walker’, Miracle Hair Grower by storyteller/musician Valerie Houston during reception and festival Diverse & Beautiful: Black Tennessee Panel September 20 • Ball Hall Auditorium, 6 p.m. Interchangeable by Althea Murphy-Price African Appalachian by Carlton Wilkinson African Art: Uses and Impact on World Art by Dr. Dorothy Drinkard-Hawkshawe
Brandon Donahue Olivia Ellis Lawrence Matthews Lester Merriweather Carl E. Moore Althea Murphy-Price Carlton Wilkinson
Curatorial Statement: KARLOTA CONTRERAS-KOTERBAY The exhibitions ‘Detangling / Unraveling The Politics Of Hair: Black Tennessee’ and ‘Interchangeable’ by Althea Murphy Price are part of the ‘Diverse & Beautiful Collaborative’ project, a series of exhibitions that take a critical look to celebrate diversity. The interdisciplinary collaborations, in particular, the Black TN art exhibitions explore the politics of hair and its nuanced roles in the negotiation of identity and race. The artists invited employ hair as agency, either as subject matter or media, as intentional element in their re-investigation of African American historical narratives, with conscious effort for self-representation, and to reconnect to their cultural heritage in order to reveal the mechanisms of marginalization, stereotyping and construction of identity towards a more empowered future. The Tennessee Black artists Olivia Ellis (Bristol), Brandon Donahue (Nashville), Lawrence Matthews (Memphis), Lester Merriweather (Memphis), Carl Moore (Memphis), Carlton Wilkinson (Nashville) and Althea Murphy-Price (Knoxville), though individually distinct in styles and media, in one way or another depict the ‘black hair/black body’ as sites of contention, negotiation and contemplation, as well as objects of ‘cultural memory’, desire, resistance and empowerment. The curatorial trajectory is informed to address the disparity of African Americans’ visibility in contemporary art, and influenced by the retrospective exhibition of works by Kerry James Marshall at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, the collection of Tennessean brothers Joseph & Beuford Delaney from the Knoxville Museum of Art, and the national travelling exhibition entitled ‘30 Americans’, from the Rubell Family collection that addressed various genres of art production by thirty pioneering, prominent, and emerging contemporary African American artists including Jean-
Michel Basquiat, Kara Walker, Mark Bradford, Nick Cave, Carrie Mae Weems, Lorna Simpson and Kehinde Wiley. The former tackled various topics within the context of the ‘African Sublime’, ‘White Racism’, some featuring satirical representations of the black figure, while others employed stereotyped images to deconstruct it. Last year, we curated ‘Black Appalachia’ featuring works of Black Appalachian artists including ‘titans’ Sammie Nicely and phenomenal folk artists Bessie Harvey and Lydia Wilson from the Martha, Robert and Allison Alfonso collection, with contemporary artists Jonathan Adams, Kelsie Dulaney-Hayworth, V. Kelsey Ellis, Gideyon Kifle, Shalam Minter, and Calvin Nicely. This was to be the pilot project for upcoming series of exhibitions featuring Black artists, in partnership with colleague Karen Sullivan from ETSU Foundations and the UMOJA Unity Festival, who facilitated the grant application to the east Tennessee Foundation’s Arts Fund, that eventually led to a more comprehensive programming to include Latinx and Asian American artists, supported by the ETSU Student Activities Allocation Committee and the Tennessee Arts Commission’s Arts Build Communities (ABC) grant through the First TN Development District. There are many areas of interest, but the decision to focus on the ‘politics of hair’ was influenced by continuous disparity and unfair treatment of school children with natural hair being either banned from entering their school facilities due to ‘dress code’, or worse, humiliation and unlawful cutting of braided hair at schools. Other factors, on the positive side are inspired by the proliferation of hair salons/barbershops in Downtown Johnson City that cater to a wide variety of hairs, including African Americans and Asian black tresses, and the ETSU’s active support on cultural diversity, specifically the Office of Multicultural Affairs’ black hair events, the Language & Culture Resource
...artists continue to serve as conscience, advocates, and provocateurs
There are several recent exhibitions on African Americans that focused on hair and its psycho-cultural impact in the assertion of identity, traversed as a revisiting of the strong ties of women to their mothers, grandmothers and ancestors, such as ‘Salon Time’ curated by Novuyo Rosa Tshuma, that celebrated the “ritual time and material culture”1 revolving on hair/hair care as “a vital connecting thread between generations of women – historical, present, and future”2. The artists featured “emphasize the repetitive, ritualized labor involved in crafting with material”3 i, one of them, Althea Murphy-Price is featured in these current exhibitions about the politics of hair. The subject of hair is presented as visual proof of the African diaspora and formal cultural code that links its historical presence to the contemporary. Another group exhibition that employed the hair as subject was “‘Mane ‘n Tail’, curated by Katherine Simóne Reynolds that examined “the relationship between the purchasers of beauty and the people and spaces that supply it”4. While the two exhibitions focused on the female hair, other shows like that organized at the Orange Mound in Memphis, TN, a historically predominantly African American community, entitled ‘Thugs’, favored the more common topic of the male African American body. The exhibition ‘Detangling/ Unraveling the Politics of Hair’ attempts to investigate and visualize the current racial struggles and achievements, efforts by all men, women and LGBTQ progressives who not only see the hair as subjects of history that ties cultural linkages, but transgress it by rewriting its own narrative, nor seen as mere objects of beauty, but also sites of contention to re-evaluation the ‘ideal’ and advance empowered versions of oneself. During this era of racism, revival of White supremacist tendencies, unjust killings of African American youth, and violent separation of children from families in the colored communities, artists continue to serve as
conscience, advocates, and provocateurs, reflecting the social injustices, ‘whitewashed’ historical narratives and rejection/exposure of ‘alternative facts’. This exhibition is part of the wider, growing support on the plight of fellow Americans whose hair or skin color are different from the dominant group, thus, considered the ‘other’ and relegated to the periphery, often ‘unseen’, if not victims of ‘culture vultures’ or worse, forgotten statistics of heinous crimes. THE ARTISTS: Althea Murphy-Price, a Knoxville-based artist and printmaker experiments on hair both as formal elements and metaphorical objects in the evolution of the ‘perfect’ or ‘ideal’ hair within the context of beauty in contemporary culture. Her works in both exhibitions, her other works also featured on concurrent solo exhibition ‘Interchangeable’ at Slocumb Galleries, celebrate the black hair with colorful barrettes that reminisce on playful youth experience, channeling a desire to go back to the innocence of childhood bliss, a continued thread of the ‘intergenerational’ relationship of women, yet these cut, decorated black hair strands may also remind us of the countless children of refugees snatched away from their parents at the borders without due process nor representation. The cut, braided hair strands may seem ‘pretty’, and formally they are, but it is also an illusion, a constructed reality that encourages us to look beyond the surface, and comb deeper to unravel its complexities.
&
DIVERSE
Center’s annual Corazon Latino and the Multicultural Center’s ‘Hijab Day’, diversity facilitators and gallery under the leadership of the late founding Director, Dr. Angela Claxton-Freeman.
Emerging millennial artist, as well as ETSU alumna Olivia Ellis amalgamates the diverse forms of resistance and reclamation of identity using popular culture. Trained in graphic design, Ellis’ political realities are informed by social media, Hollywood culture and racial micro aggressions. Raised in a predominantly Caucasian neighborhood in Bristol, TN, Ellis’ thesis work unraveled the issue of ‘micro aggressions’ on a series of graphic, large scale digital work inspired by 70’s movie posters entitled ‘Racial Peeves’. Two works from the series, ‘Magic Mane’ and ‘Culture Vultures’,
visualize the derogatory, yet seemingly harmless practice of touching someone’s natural hair, whether it is styled as Afro, cornrows, or Bantu knots; as well as the callous appropriation of specific cultural practices or movements such as twerking, facial or hair features by Hollywood celebrities and wannabes.
people of color.” Similarly, Lester Merriweather critiques the concept of beauty and the ideal form as perpetrated by fashion ads and imagery. He reconfigures and collages lifestyle and media prints to re-evaluate the “notions of racial prominence and inferiority”, layering his work with “humor and sarcasm in addressing the racial dynamics in America.”
Furthermore, the black male body has also been seductively marketed as objects of desire and sexuality, same with the overly eroticized black female body. Athletes, musicians, print ad models have been branded, packaged and ‘sold’ to the public consumers within the lens of white capitalists version of ideal beauty and perfection. In response, we see athletes courageously wearing their cornrows while kneeling to the national anthem, as protest to violence against African American youth, while some play in national sports arena in their Afros that were once stereotyped for black violence, as they reclaim their hair as expression of reclaimed, and empowered identity. As homage to these athletic warriors, we have included the works of Nashville-based graphic artist Brandon Donahue and photographer Carlton Wilkinson. Donahue employs old, discarded sports balls that are whimsical yet packs punch. His conversion of found, repurposed basketballs as surface for his Afro hairstyles employ both humor and multilayered art techniques of street art, while paying homage to the courageous athletes who have risked their ‘privileged’ statures to provide voice to those who are unheard, and serve as role models. The black and white portraits by Wilkinson depict the sublime beauty of the black body, while similarly, his colored photographs visualize the humorous and satirical portraits.
The multi-media exhibitions provide diverse visualizations of how artists have employed hair as subject and media for the reclamation of identity versus cultural appropriation, as well as tactile material to push forward the critical dialogues involving race and social justice. During the Umoja festival, a hair ‘parade’ will feature diverse work by regional hairstylists that celebrate the beauty and creativity inspired by African American hairstyles.
Memphis-based Black artists Carl E. Moore and Lawrence Matthews are both in the production of imagery to address and challenge the current norm of the unseen or token diversity. The former, Moore literally paints his figurative forms in black skin as reiteration of his subjects’ ‘blackness’ and all its symbolisms, surrounded by vibrant hues as part of the visual narrative, developing graphic dialogue that portrays “social connections between characters and environment” through color and content. His figures literally in black skin, While the latter, Matthews “reveals the peculiar history and circumstances of African Americans, as well as addresses the lack of attempts to understand
[1] Salon Time catalogue essay written by Novuyo Rosa Tshuma [2] Ibid. [3] Ibid. [4] http://theluminaryarts.com/exhibitions/mane-n-tail
Lastly, Memphis-based storyteller and musician Valerie Houston’s series of performance of her play ‘Madam C.J. Walker: The Miracle Hair Grower’ during the ‘Diverse & Beautiful: Black TN’ provided community engagement activities to expose the Northeast TN region to the plight, struggle, inspiration and tenacity of the first woman, and African American millionaire who found a niche to empower herself and her community. Karlota I. Contreras-Koterbay is the Gallery Director for ETSU Slocumb Galleries. She received her Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology and Master of Arts in Art History from the University of the Philippines – Diliman. She is a member of the International Council of Museums, Association of Art Museums and Galleries (AAMG) and former board member of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts, and former board director of the Art Association of the Philippines. As curator, she develops exhibitions and educational programming that promote diversity, innovative creativity and critical thinking. She has exhibited as an artist and curated or juried exhibitions in the Philippines, Japan, Singapore, Spain, Italy, South Korea and the US. Contreras-Koterbay is a recipient of the ETSU Staff Award and the Jan Phillips Mentor Award.
KAREN SULLIVAN
Curatorial Statement:
“When does hair become political? In my opinion,
African and African-American hair became political as soon as we arrived on these shores. When Africans – mostly from West Africa, were enslaved and shipped like sardines to the New World, one of the first things that they were subjected to was to have their hair chopped off, hastening the erasure of cultural identity, blocking any expressions of personal beauty. Once their hair began to grow back, slaves were given cloths with which to wrap their heads, reportedly to prevent head lice and ringworm brought on by the close conditions of slave housing. In Louisiana, in 1786, during the term of office of Don Estevan Miro, the wearing of head wraps, called tignons, was made into a law directed at women of “pure or mixed African blood.”; This sumptuary law was put in place to hide the charms of these women who were felt to be too attractive to the white men of the era. What unfolded was that the tignon head wraps were embraced, intricately folded, twisted and elegantly adorned – and the women remained as attractive as ever.
chemical relaxers soon became a mainstay of African American hairstyles. Kinky, nappy hair was not respected, nor considered to be the proper thing for “respectable” Colored People or Negroes. There’s an entire progression of what people of color have been named which I won’t even attempt to chronicle at this time. I clearly remember watching Whoopi Goldberg’s stand-up character, titled only, “Little Girl,” with a blouse buttoned around her hairline, pretending it was her "long, luxurious blonde hair.” When I was a little girl there were few, if any representations of African American women with beautiful hair of any color or length – and yes, I can remember doing that same thing with a shirt. We can step forward to the present and hear, and see Willa Smith in her video, “I whip my hair back and forth, but with extensions of hair – not a piece of clothing.
It was freedom.
After the transatlantic slave trade was outlawed in 1808, slave owners had an increased interest in the continued health of their chattel. Unhealthy slaves did not sell as well, or at the best prices. To keep the merchandise in good shape, slaves were allowed Sundays to attend church and personal grooming became more of a possibility. However, centuries of being owned and downtrodden took a heavy toll. Hair, and how straight or kinky it was, became one of the determinates of slave status and the lighter-skinned slaves with straighter hair were usually chosen to work in, “the big house,” while the darker-skinned, kinky-haired brothers and sisters were relegated to harder labor in the fields of the plantation. Positive identities were soon attributed to slaves who were children of rape or miscegenation, and the phrase “good hair” gradually became part of the lexicon, not only for the slave owners, but also for slaves and descendants of slaves. For decades, becoming as Europeanized as possible became what many saw as the road to acceptance and success in America. Hair grease, do-rags, hot combs and
We were so proud to wear our natural hair in the 60’s. It was freedom. It was a statement. We were electrified while most of our parents were horrified! My mother wondered why in the world I wanted to leave the house with a head full of nappy hair, but I felt myself akin to Angela Davis, and I was not alone – “Say it loud! I’m Black and I’m proud,” played in the background of our daily lives. The “natural,” or “afro,” defined a generation. We braided our hair into “cornrows” in order to groom our naturals, making them as large and round as we possibly could. The times were politically charged and we were proud of our nappy, natural hair! If variety is the spice of life, then we are living in spicy times for Black hairstyles. Styles that we see every day might be afros, or hair that is braided, twisted, locked, sculpted, weaved, wrapped, partially or completely shaved, and dyed every color under the sun. In my opinion, we as a people have finally empowered ourselves to appreciate our uniqueness, our beauty and the sculptural quality of our hair. Gradually we are exploring and embracing what is, as opposed to what we have been brainwashed into thinking should be. My daughter grew up to view different representations of beauty, including beautiful images of
African American women and men. Her current preference is for a tiny, curly ‘fro, the color of which changes at her whim. We are slowly learning to accept ourselves, to write our own definitions of what is beautiful, acceptable and pleasing. However, even today, pleasing ourselves, about our own hair, does not always meet with acceptance others. There are new dress codes currently written across the nation, which would once again see us as acceptable only when adopting a Europeanized version of hairstyles. Last year, two high school girls in Boston faced detention and suspension because their braids with extensions were banned by the school dress code. In Milwaukee, a teacher cut off the braid of a 7-year- old, because the girl was playing with her hair. After cutting off the hair in front of the class, the teacher sent the girl back to her desk. What was the lesson there? What did that child learn? What did her classmates learn? In August of this year (2018!) a middle school child was sent home in tears because of – again – her hair was braided with extensions. There are moreincidents, but frankly, I am getting too angry – yes – angry Black woman here – to relate many more of them. Not all, but the majority of these hair/dress code infractions have been leveled at Black girls. When Black hair is, dyed, fried and laid to the side, there are never questions about appropriateness. Then, there is a completely different discussion about cultural appropriation. How can it be true that extensions worn in the schoolroom are considered inappropriate or a fad, and those wearing them worthy of dismissal from school – when those same styles are considered cool and high fashion when worn by certain (and please picture air quotes here), celebrities, or other privileged individuals?
There is a fascination with the look of African-American natural hair and its many permutations. Strangers often feel it is ok to touch the natural hair of African-Americans without permission. It is not ok. It is an invasion of personal space. Throughout my six decades of life, like many of my African-American sisters – and some of my brothers, I have worn hairstyles straightened with “hot combs” and chemical relaxers. I have sported both tiny and large afros, shiny, oil saturated, Jehri curls, cornrows, box braids, twists, Bantu knots and extensions. My hard-working hair has been worked over with flat irons, curling wands, specially formed curlers, clips, and pins, loads of hair oils, creams and gels. All of these have been part of my hair repertoire at one time or another. I have gone from, “Nappy and happy” to having straight hair, and everywhere in between. What is next? We can all find out together. The artists featured in our exhibit, men and women, have many different things to say about marginalization, resistance and empowerment in our politicized world of hair. Their interpretations have to do with perceptions of who we are, as well as, the political, physical and philosophical roads we continue to travel. These artists present explorations of beauty, appropriation, appropriateness, acceptance, and appreciation. View, learn, enjoy and, discuss!” Karen LeBlanc Sullivan, works for East Tennessee State University, and is currently a member of both the Johnson City, Tennessee, Umoja Cultural Arts organization and the McKinney Center in Jonesborough, Tennessee. Thankfully, she still has hair on her head despite the many things she has done, or allowed to have done to her follicles.
Passes Down From Me to You Lithograph and Screen Print Collage Althea Murphy-Price
DETANGLING/ UNRAVELING
THE POLITICS OF HAIR: by Karlota Contreras-Koterbay and Karen Sullivan BLACK TENNESSEE Curated September 6 to 28, 2018 • Tipton Gallery
Brandon Donahue is an airbrush artist, educator, street artist, and self taught sculptor of “searched for” and “found” materials. Customizing and personalizing objects are to him a “rite” and he believes in the ability to transcend the original state and meaning of things. After receiving his MFA from The University of Tennessee at Knoxville, Donahue has lead airbrushing workshops at Arrowmont and Penland School of Arts and Crafts. Donahue is a native of Memphis, TN and currently teaches at Tennessee State University in Nashville, TN. Donahue’s artwork has been reviewed in newspapers including the Nashville Scene, The Tennessean, Flagpole, and The Examiner. Donahue has been an artist-in-residence at Arrowmont Arts and Craft center in Gatlinburg, TN. He has shown his work at galleries such as Double 6 Studios Brooklyn, NY, The White Box Gallery of New York, NY, Mein Blau Gallery of Berlin, Germany, The Frist Center of Nashville, TN, David Lusk Gallery of Nashville and Memphis, TN, Dr. Bob's of New Orleans, LA, and The Corvette Museum of Bowling Green, KY. He also has painted murals in Memphis, New Orleans, Austin, TX, Berlin, Florence, Italy, Nashville, and NYC. Donahue is a recipient of the Tanne Foundation 2018 Award. locatearts.org/artists/brandon-donahue brandonjaquezdonahue.com/home.html
Starting 5 Basketball, spray paint, wood stump, hair
NASHVILLE
As a result of my alchemy, I produce new artifacts out of older recognizable forms. My new artifacts are obviously not found in everyday life the way that I present them, so I challenge the viewer to see not only what is present, but also what is represented.
DONAHUE
Three art-making processes dominate my studio practice: airbrushing, spray painting, and scavenging abandoned things. There is an exceptional quality to my painting process. Airbrushing enables me to work in large and small-scale detail without my tool physically touching the surface. Layers of paint evenly recoat the material without altering its form. I collect mass-produced, publicly displayed, and abandoned urban forms like fallen street signs, basketballs, car-bumpers, and hubcaps. My work relates to traditions of folk art, hip hop, street art and occupies a space between low and high art culture.
BRANDON
My work embodies the transformational spirit of the vernacular. I search for and collect articles and materials with a specific history. I then add to the history of the thing by employing multiple techniques and processes such as airbrushing, spray painting, vacuum forming, or simply reassembling the object. Over the past sixteen years, I have been professionally custom airbrushing at t-shirt and car shops, athletic events, carnivals, festivals, and homes. Customizing and personalizing things is to me a rite. I believe in the ability to transcend the original state and meaning of things. I see myself in the work and realize that I, too, have potential to change.
Olivia Ellis is a graphic designer with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from ETSU Department of Art & Design. She was a Fine & Performing Arts Scholar at the Honors College and a recipient of the Roan Scholarship. She received the Best of Show from the ‘Art for Change’ President Permanent Collection juried art exhibition. She currently works in New York City as a graphic designer. oliviagabrielleellis.com
Magic Mane Hand & digital illustration, wood, LED, acrylic
BRISTOL
I created the illustrations using watercolor, colored pencil, and charcoal. I then scanned each illustration and designed the poster in the computer. I love texture, so I wanted the physical texture to show through on each poster.”
ELLIS,
“You’re so lucky you don’t have to spend time on your hair.” “Can I touch it? Woah it’s actually soft!” “How do you get it to do that? Can you do boxer braids?” “I love your Miley buns! “ You’re so white.” “You don’t act like a normal black person. You’re so well spoken!” “So you only like white guys? Sounds like Jungle Fever...” “But is his family racist?”
LIVIA
”Taking inspiration from 1970s Blaxploitaion movie posters I created a poster series based on microaggressions I’ve experienced. Listed below are a few of the microaggressions that inspired ‘Racial Peeves’.
Maintaining Place | Making Space Mixed Media
MEMPHIS
Born in Memphis, TN in 1991, Lawrence Matthews III came from a family who encouraged him to be an artist from a young age. Being raised in a racially tense environment his experiences and interests manifested themselves in his visual art. Matthews graduated from Germantown High School in 2009. After experimenting with different styles and influences, Matthews came into his own creating visual art combining Post Modernist, Pop Art, and contemporary influences to tell the story of the African Descendant living in America. His work ranges from oil paintings, to collage, photography, and ready-made sculpture, to music and film. Musically Matthews’s style incorporates hip-hop, alternative rock and electronic music resulting in emotionally vulnerable storytelling and eclectic production. A recipient of a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the University of Memphis, he has shown work in multiple group exhibitions around the mid-south. He was awarded the Deans Creative Achievement Award and Department of Art Creative Achievement Award in 2015. In 2016 he was awarded the Arts Accelerator Grant from Arts Memphis. Matthews has had many solo exhibitions spanning painting, photography, and installation including performances and exhibitions with the Brooks and Civil Rights Museum. Over the last two years Matthews has transitioned into curating and working in the nonprofit world providing opportunities for other artists and becoming a community leader in the Memphis area. lawrencematthewsart.com/ locatearts.org/artists/lawrence-matthews
III
MATTHEWS,
I bring my experiences and the experiences of others into this work and the work I choose to create. My goal is to not only provide a new life and audience to these stories and appropriated historical images but also to educate and draw similarities to modern injustices. Using book pages from African American authors, scholars and activists, I construct a collaged surface upon which I paint these images. The paintings are graphic and appear to be created on found wood and aged book pages. I use black oil paint to bring out the weight and bleakness of the situations being painted, and watercolor to create the allusion of aged book pages and photographs. Varying series to series I expand into photography, performance, installation and the use of found objects and vintage technology. My work holds a mirror to the ignored past of this country. These projects are about emotion, hope, pain, suffering, love, hate, sadness and anger. My goal is for the history to be felt. From police brutality to poverty and other issues plaguing the African American community, I hope to create work that puts one in that moment in time. For viewers of all races, the work allows one to confront topics that are uncomfortable with the goal of creating a dialogue which can open minds and educate on all sides. My art is facing our own reality, our own past, and communicating that if we choose to ignore it, we are doomed to repeat it.”
LAWRENCE
“My work is a glimpse into the experiences and circumstances of African Americans throughout history. My work reveals the peculiar history and circumstances of African Americans, as well as addresses the lack of attempts to understand people of color. This work is being created from the point of view of a young black man, who grew up with constant awareness of his “otherness”. Being raised in an all white neighborhood, being told by kids parents that I couldn’t play with their children, as well as having my home vandalized multiple times, informed me that I was different. Being the only black student in class, followed in stores, being followed and harassed by police, only made me more aware of my race and societal limitations.
Voyage 1 Cut paper collage on canvas
Lester Julian Merriweather (b.1978) is a Memphis-based visual artist. He attended the Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture. He holds an MFA from Memphis College of Art and a BA from Jackson State University. Merriweather has exhibited extensively throughout the U.S. at various venues such as the Studio Museum in Harlem, NYC, TOPS Gallery, Powerhouse Memphis, Diverseworks in Houston, Stella Jones Gallery in New Orleans, and the Atlanta Contemporary. He has also exhibited abroad at the Zacheta National Gallery in Warsaw, Poland. He recently served as the Curatorial Director of the Martha & Robert Fogelman Galleries of Contemporary Art at the University of Memphis and on the Board of Directors for Number, Inc. independent journal. He also served as a founding member of the ArtsMemphis Artist Advisory Council and the artsAccelerator Grant Panel. Merriweather is currently on the Advisory Panel for the CLVT. He is the Curatorial Consultant for the PPF Art Collection in Memphis, Tennessee. locatearts.org/artists/lester-merriweather theartistljulian.wixsite.com/ljulian
MERRIWEATHER, MEMPHIS
LESTER
Lester Merriweather’s collages use imagery from printed advertising material in fashion and lifestyle magazines. In re-contextualizing these images, Merriweather examines ads and media materials that promote notions of racial prominence and inferiority.
Dog Bite Acrylic on canvas from the Pyramid Peak Foundation Collection
MEMPHIS
Carl E. Moore is from Canton, MS who currently live and work in Memphis, TN as an artist and designer. He attended the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and the Memphis College of Art where he received his Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) and Master of Fine Arts (MFA).
MOORE,
CARL
I use media based events as the primary theme of my work, by taking those situations and reducing them down to their most basic form, it allows me to create a narrative. I use color and content to redefine the conversation by developing a social connection between the characters and their environment. The color becomes an important part of that dialogue, and the content becomes part of the social statement. I consider my work to be a form of visual communication using simplicity and depth to express social and ethical issues. My goal is to create a conversation between both the personal and public by using color and composition to express mood, situation and ideas. By placing people and objects in common and uncommon situations, it allows me to deal with specific subjects from various perspectives.”
locatearts.org/artists/carl-moore carlemoore.com/about.html
E.
“The work I’ve created over the last few years has dealt with identity and color. During this process my goal was too compare social ideologies about race, stereotypes, and belief systems to everyday colors and the perception of these colors in our environment. As part of my process, Black has always been a color of identity for Black people, Black American, African American, Negro etc. Just as White, for Caucasian or those of Anglo or European descent, Red as a color for Native Americans (Also deemed as inappropriate) and Brown for the Latino population. The color black has always had a negative representation for being compared to death, bad or poor quality and even race. I’ve taken the color black and placed it into the environment, and used it as part of the emotional conversation. The goal is to make the dialogue more about the artwork and the color of the characters, even though the characters are part of the narrative.
KNOXVILLE
Murphy-Price maintains an active exhibiting practice. She has exhibited in venues throughout the country and abroad such as: the Weston Gallery, Cincinnati, OH; Howard Museum of Art, Baltimore, MD; Wellesley College, Boston, MA, Wade Wilson Art Gallery, Houston, TX; Indiana University Art Museum, The Print Center, Philadelphia, PA; The Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art, Charleston, SC; and the Knoxville Museum of Art, Knoxville, TN. International exhibits include the International Printmaking Exhibition, Jingdezhen, China; the American Youth Printmaking Exhibition, Lui Haisu Art Museum, Shanghai, China and Print Resonance, Musashino Art University, Tokyo, Japan. Her writing and work has been featured in such publications as Art Papers Magazine, CAA Reviews, Contemporary Impressions Journal, Art in Print, Printmaking: A Complete Guide to Materials and Process, and Printmakers Today.
More Please Lithograph and screen print collage
MURPHY-PRICE,
ALTHEA
Born in California, Althea Murphy Price is a professional artist and printmaker currently living in Knoxville TN. As an artist, her work has been recognized for it’s nonconventional approach to the traditions of printing. Murphy-Price began her studies in Fine Art at Spelman College before receiving her Master of Arts in Printmaking and Painting from Purdue University in West Lafayette Indiana, and later studying at the Tyler School of Art, Temple University in Philadelphia, PA where she earned her Master of Fine Arts.
locatearts.org/artists/althea-murphy-price altheamurphyprice.com
-
“Surface, takes a form of metaphor and physical expression in my work and its significance is central to ideas of which human perception revolve. Both our interior and exterior perception of ourselves and others dictate how we exist in the world. Our perceptions are based on generalities, and surface values. Surface, also inspires much of my process which encourages ones close observation, and solicits the desire to touch for understanding. I seek to better understand ideas of feminine identity and beauty through my experiences as a member of a marginalized society. I use deception, desire and decoration to form questions on the topics of truth, fascination and attraction. Often, I have used manufactured hair (both synthetic and human) to exercise its role as embellishment and as signifier of racial identity. In this work, hair functions as both subject and material, and represents both assimilation and individuality. My work takes alternative approaches to the traditions of drawing, collage, sculpture and printmaking methods to create a surface quality in which complexity is implied.”
Wilkinson has been largely inspired by his involvement of art of the African Diaspora, which he has been in business for over 30 years, when he opened his gallery, In The Gallery, in 1987. His new business, Wilkinson Arts, represents all media artwork from the African Diaspora. African antiquities, as well, as contemporary art is part of my collection of museum quality artwork. Third-party collections/artwork are represented for acquisition. carltonwilkinsonarts.com
Faheem Photograph
NASHVILLE
Presently, Wilkinson teaches college level photography at Volunteer State CC. He has taught at Vanderbilt University, University of North Carolina Wilmington, Fisk University and Watkins College of Art. Along with teaching, he has recently curated exhibitions at the Moldavian Arts Council, Murfreesboro City Hall and Vol State Community College.
WILKINSON,
CARLTON
Carlton Wilkinson received the Tennessee Artist Fellowship (1994,) which is the state’s highest honor for an artist. He began his studies as an artist at Washington University at St. Louis (BFA) and continued at the University of California, Los Angeles, where he received his Masters of Fine Arts in Design. He has exhibited his photography nationally, including, the Smithsonian Institution, the University of Notre Dame, Vanderbilt University, University of Berkeley, California, Fisk University, the Frist Art Museum and several private and public art galleries. Wilkinson’s photography was been included in a traveling exhibition and book, Reflections in Black. His 25th year retrospective exhibition and catalog, Coming Home, was exhibited at the Parthenon Museum in 2005. Wilkinson has been speaking internationally on his photography of Latin America and a researched paper on Moor Art of Europe. He has recently lectured at Harvard University, Palermo, Italy, Johannesburg, SA and the countries of Jamaica and Colombia.
ENGAGEMENT
COMMUNITY
CARLTON WILKINSON
THE POLITICS OF HAIR: BLACK TENNESSEE
UNRAVELING
ETANGLING
RECEPTION
September 6 to 11, 2018 Organized by Diverse & Beautiful: Black TN ETSU Storytelling Program Johnson City Senior Center University School Johnson City Senior Center Tipton Gallery Johnson City Public Library UMOJA Unity Festival Stage Holston Elementary Boys & Girls Club of TN Valley
MADAM C.J. WALKER Sarah Breedlove (December 23, 1867 – May 25, 1919), known as Madam C. J. Walker, was an African-American entrepreneur, philanthropist, and a political and social activist. Eulogized as the first female self-made millionaire in the United States, she became one of the wealthiest self-made women in America and wealthiest African-American women in the country and one of the most successful women and African-American business owners ever. Walker made her fortune by developing and marketing a line of beauty and hair products for black women through Madame C.J. Walker Manufacturing Company, the successful business she founded. Walker was also known for her philanthropy and activism. She made financial donations to numerous organizations and became a patron of the arts. Villa Lewaro, Walker’s lavish estate in Irvington-on-Hudson, New York, served as a social gathering place for the African-American community.
MEMPHIS
Northeast Tennessee Tour
HOUSTON
She has written and performed a play on the life of Madam C.J. Walker for Tennessee public schools’ youths. Mrs. Houston’s program is an arts integration program, where she uses the arts to teach students, history, music, theatre and social science. Madam C.J. Walker is not only a theatrical performance but it also allows students to participate in the production. The ultimate objective of the program is to encourage today’s youth to develop positive character traits.
VALERIE
Valerie Houston is an accomplished actress, singer and playwright. She has won different acting awards in Memphis and Texas. She is also a gospel recording artist. Valerie Houston has an A.S. degree in Music, a B.L.S. degree in Organizational leadership with a minor in English and completing her M.A.C.M.
JOHNSON CITY
HAIR PARADE
Lyn Govette • Community Engagement Facilitator
Lyn Govette holds an MFA in Fibers from East Tennessee State University. She employs her background in medicine, sustainability, and community activism as fodder for the textile works she creates by addressing environmental concerns. She is currently Artist-in-Residence at Topper Academy and is adjunct faculty in the Department of Art and Humanities at Northeast State Community College. When not working on her own art she functions as the Community Outreach Facilitator for Slocumb Galleries, a position she has held for two years. “The issue of community involvement in the arts and working collaboratively with other artists are an important part of my artistic aesthetic.”
Jasmine Henderson • Emcee
INTERCHANGEABLE
MURPHY-PRICE
ALTHEA
Both our interior and exterior perceptions of ourselves and others dictate how we exist in the world. Our perceptions are based on generalities, they only have surface value. I am enticed by creating textual and physical surface in my work, it inspires much of my process; encouraging close observation, and soliciting the desire for to touch for better understanding. I too seek to better understand ideas of feminine identity and beauty through my experiences as a member of a marginalized society. I use deception, desire and ornamentation to form questions on the topics of truth, fascination and attraction. Often, I have used manufactured hair (both synthetic and human) to exercise its role as embellishment and as signifier of racial identity. In this work, hair functions as both subject and material, and represents both assimilation and individuality. My work takes alternative approaches to the traditions of drawing, collage and sculpture. Often the linear structure of hair serves as a substitute for the drawn line, defining form, and contour to compose a visual surface that implies complexity. In printed works, I utilize a photolithographic approach to mimic the realistic appearance of hair. Often, synthetic rather than human hair is deliberately used to address ideas of imitation, and the notion of a disposable or interchangeable identity. These ideas are expressed in my work in two different ways based on approach. Printed works, attempt to challenge the viewer to question the reality of the image by mimicking an extremely realistic appearance. Sculptural works, reveal the false nature of the synthetic material by achieving forms otherwise unattainable. Althea Murphy-Price began her studies in Fine Art at Spelman College before receiving her Master of Arts in Printmaking and Painting from Purdue University and later studying at the Tyler School of Art, Temple University where she earned her Master of Fine Arts. Murphy-Price maintains an active exhibiting practice. She has exhibited in venues throughout the country and abroad such as: the Weston Gallery, Cincinnati OH; Howard Museum of Art, Baltimore, MD; Wellesley College, Boston MA, Wade Wilson Art Gallery, Houston TX; Indiana University Art Museum, The Print Center, Philadelphia, PA; The Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art, Charleston, SC; and the Knoxville Museum of Art, Knoxville TN. International exhibits include the International Printmaking Exhibition, Jingdezhen China; the American Youth Printmaking Exhibition, Lui Haisu Art Museum, Shanghai, China and Print Resonance, Musashino Art University, Tokyo Japan. In addition to her exhibition record she has been an artist in residence at the Frank Llyod Wright School, University of Hawaii, Hilo, The Vermont Studio Center, The Venice Printmaking Studio. Her writings and work have been featured in such publications as Art Papers Magazine, CAA Reviews, Contemporary Impressions Journal, Art in Print, Printmaking: A Complete Guide to Materials and Process., and Printmakers Today.
Envy Lithograph on gampi surface paper
INTERCHANGEABLE
ALTHEA
MURPHY-PRICE
Photos by Carlton Wilkinson and gallery staff
ALTHEA MURPHY-PRICE
CRITIQUE & GALLERY TALK
DEMONSTRATION,
PRINTMAKING
DIVERSE
BEAUTIFUL
&
Presented by the Department of Art & Design, and Slocumb Galleries in partnership with the Student Activities Allocation Committee, Diverse & Beautiful Collaborative, Tennessee Arts Commission’s ABC Grant and East Tennessee Foundation’s Arts Fund. Department of Art & Design
Slocumb Galleries
The ETSU Department of Art & Design provides comprehensive training in the visual arts and art history. Our students develop problem solving skills, a strong work ethic, and an ability to communicate verbally and visually through their time with us. Alumni from our program are thriving in various careers in the arts. Our faculty includes internationally exhibited artists, published authors, and a Guggenheim fellow. We are affiliated with the Mary B. Martin School of the Arts at ETSU, which sponsors an eclectic calendar of visiting artists, curators, art historians, and exhibitions on the ETSU campus each semester. Our facilities are comprehensive, with materials and spaces for Graphic Design, Fibers, Painting, Printmaking, Ceramics, Drawing, Jewelry & Metals, Sculpture, Analog and Digital Photography, and Extended Media. We have two exhibition spaces, the Slocumb Galleries on campus, and a satellite gallery in downtown Johnson City, Tipton Street Gallery, where we host exhibitions by students, visiting artists, faculty, and more.
The Slocumb Galleries and Tipton Gallery under the Department of Art & Design at the ETSU College of Arts and Sciences promote the understanding, production and appreciation of visual arts in support of the academic experience and the cultural development of surrounding communities. Our Mission is to promote artistic excellence, diversity, collaborations and creative thinking as innovative exhibition venues that provide access to contemporary art.
etsu.edu/cas/art
etsu.edu/cas/art/galleries/ East Tennessee Foundation The Arts Fund for East Tennessee, a field-of-interest fund of East Tennessee Foundation(ETF), serves as a source of funds to support excellence in the arts, expand access to the arts, and connect artists with each other. We are proud to partner with ETSU to support a series of exhibits that celebrate Black, Asian and Hispanic Appalachian diversity. ETF is a 501(c)(3) public charity and community foundation created by and for the people of East Tennessee, where many donors join together to make the region they love a better place, today and for future generations. easttennesseefoundation.org
Tennessee Arts Commission Arts Build Communities
Multicultural Center and Office of Multicultural Affairs
The Arts Build Communities (ABC) grant program from the Tennessee Arts Commission is designed to provide support for arts projects that broaden access to arts experiences, address community quality of life issues through the arts, or enhance the sustainability of assetbased cultural enterprises. ABC funds are designed to provide innovative arts experiences, offer arts programs that are designed to help affect posit ive change in community social issues, develop arts programming that strengthens social networks through community engagement, and undertake cultural arts initiatives that enhance a community’s identity and/or economic development.
The ETSU Multicultural Center will positively affect lives by creating an environment that supports and sustains the affirmation, celebration, and understanding of human differences and similarities.
tnartscommission.org/art-grants/
Umoja Unity Festival Umoja (U-moja) (Oomoja), is Swahili for “Unity” which is to be in harmony and on one accord, to combine include all. For the past 20 years, the Umoja Arts and Cultural Inc. which is comprised of approximately 20 board members, has provided Northeast Tennessee with a variety of entertaining and education opportunities. Our mission is: To bridge and unify diverse cultures through education and artistic presentations of art, culture and heritage to improve and promote the region. umojajc.org/
The Office of Multicultural Affairs is responsible for creating and fostering a campus-wide climate of respect for each individual and advocating for a culturally diverse and non-discriminatory campus community. The Office of Multicultural Affairs embraces all students regardless of ethnicity, gender, color, religion, national origin, disability, or sexual orientation. Students receive many services through the office including counseling, academic advisement, numerous educational programs and social opportunities.
Women’s Resource Center The Women’s Resource Center facilitates programming dealing with an extensive variety of issues and concerns affecting women. Our goal is to enrich and enlighten women on the issues confronting them. The Center is dedicated to providing seminar and lecture series that explore a wide spectrum of concerns. etsu.edu/wrcetsu/
etsu.edu/equity/multicultural Language and Culture Resource Center The goal of the LCRC is to be a reference inside and outside of ETSU for translation and interpretation services, while also creating paths across different languages and cultures, helping to close the gap between individuals with different stories, backgrounds, and cultures. We are also a safe place where everyone will feel welcome while coming to learn more about cultures and ethnicities around the world. These cultures will be celebrated through events throughout the academic year. etsu.edu/cas/lcrc/
Binghampton Photograph Lawrence Matthews III
DIVERSE & BEAUTIFUL COLLABORATIVE: BLACK TENNESSEE Africana Studies Program • Boys & Girls Club of TN Valley • Cache Hair EFX • Center for Appalachian Studies • Crown Cutz Academy Department of Art & Design • Department of Sociology & Anthropology • East Tennessee Foundation’s Arts Fund • Ellen Markman ETSU Foundation • ETSU Tipton & Slocumb Galleries • First Tennessee Development District • Holston Elementary • Jay’s Salon Xquisite Johnson City Public Library Johnson City Senior Center • Jonesborough Bed & Breakfast • Language & Culture Resource Center L’mand Revolutionary Theater • Locate Arts • Multicultural Center • Natural Hair Solutions • Northeast State Technical Community College Office of Multicultural Affairs • School of Continuing Studies & Academic Outreach • Soleus Massage • Storytelling Program Student Activities Allocation Committee (SAAC) • TaylorMade Barbershop • Tennessee Arts Commission’s Arts Build Communities (ABC) Grant Topper Academy • UMOJA Unity Festival • University School • Women’s Resource Center