The Charles H. Wright Museum Proudly Presents a Panel Discussion - Through Baldwin's Eyes: Artistic Explorations of Blackness and Identity
WHO: Join us for a powerful panel discussion that examines the intersectionality of Blackness through the lens of James Baldwin’s life and legacy, moderated by Lauren Hood. This program offers a distinctive opportunity to understand how Baldwin’s profound insights into race and identity continue to inspire and shape contemporary artistic practices.
WHAT: The panel will feature three distinguished Black women creatives: Sabrina Nelson, Ashara Ekundayo, and Omo Misha, all Detroiters, each bringing their unique perspective and artistic expression. Through a blend of individual and collective work, the panelists will explore how Baldwin’s exploration of identity, race, and social justice informs and resonates within their artistic practices. This discussion will highlight how Baldwin’s legacy continues to influence and inspire their creative endeavors, underscoring the enduring relevance of his work in addressing and reflecting on issues of Blackness and identity.
FRONTLINE PROPHET: JAMES BALDWIN provides an intimate, multi-sensory experience of the man, and a space for us all to contemplate his legacy, not through a single lens, but a kaleidoscope of imagery, writing, collaborations, poetry, technology, and dedicated programming. Curated by Ashara Ekundayo and Omo Misha, the exhibit kicked off in New York for Baldwin’s 99th birthday in 2023 and traveled to New Orleans and Oakland, California, before making its way to Chicago and finally home, to Detroit. Highlighting over forty compositions and four sketchbooks created by Nelson over eight years, Frontline Prophet: James Baldwin has continued to evolve as it travels, ultimately, to the American University of Paris, France.
WHERE: The Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History 315 Warren Ave., Detroit MI 48201 (313) 494-5800
WHEN: Tuesday, October 29th, 2024
6:00pm (doors open) 6:30pm – 8:00 pm (program and exhibition tour) Wright Community Room
WHY: Sabrina Nelson has immersed herself in the subject of Baldwin since attending ‘A Language to Dwell In a James Baldwin’ conference in Paris in 2016. There, she audited lectures and performances while creating live art throughout the conference. Sabrina began sketching Baldwin as a means of cementing her own understanding and expressing the many facets of the remarkable human she was discovering.
Sabrina Nelson has been a professional interdisciplinary artist for over 37 years, exhibiting throughout the United States and in Paris, France. She works in a range of media and styles – from painting, drawing and sculpture, to art installations, performances and collaborations. Nelson is also an educator, lecturer, and ‘artivist’—using her art as a medium for activism. For more than two decades, she has held professional appointments with the College for Creative Studies, College of Art & Design in Arts Administration and the Detroit Institute of Arts Education Department. She has taught African American Art History at CCS and Oakland University, served on the Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp faculty and as guest curator for the Carr Center and the Detroit Music Hall Performing Arts Center. She is a 2021-2022 Kresge Arts Fellow and earned her BFA in Fine Arts from CCS in 1991. Nelson and her work have been featured extensively in the media, including on PBS in 2020 and 2022.
Co-curators, Ashara Ekundayo and Omo Misha are practiced creative allies of Nelson’s who are committed to sharing this exhibition around the world. Ekundayo is a Detroit and Oakland CA based cultural worker and curator and the founder of the international philanthropic platform Artist As First Responder and the principal at AECreative Consulting Partners, LLC. Her creative practice is rooted in joy-informed pedagogies and the study and creation of Black archives, site-responsive ceremony, and artist-based strategies that illuminate the specific expertise of Black womxn of the African Diaspora. A Detroit
and New York-based curator and arts administrator, Omo Misha has served numerous New York institutions including the United Nations, CHRISTIE’S and City College Center for the Arts, while operating Detroit’s Irwin House Gallery.
Lauren A. Hood is the Founder and Chief Visionary of the Institute for AfroUrbanism (IAU). The IAU is a think tank and action lab working at the intersection of human actualization and urban transformation. The institute’s research and programming seek to understand the social, spatial, spiritual and economic conditions necessary in order for Black folks to thrive in cities. Last year, Lauren joined the faculty at the Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning at the University of Michigan as an Assistant Professor of Practice teaching electives on reparative planning and culture-centric community development. Lauren is an avid daydreamer and powerful manifestor who finds inspiration in the woods, near the ocean and in desolate landscapes where the veil is thin.
About the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History
The Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History was founded in 1965 and is in the heart of Midtown Detroit’s Cultural Center. The Wright Museum’s mission is to open minds and change lives through the exploration and celebration of African American history and culture. And Still We Rise: Our Journey Through African American History and Culture — the museum’s 22,000 square foot, immersive core exhibit — is one of the largest, single exhibitions surveying the history of African Americans. The Wright Museum houses over 35,000 artifacts and archival materials and offers more than 300 public programs and events annually.
Media Contacts:
Char Yates
Director of Media Relations
Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History
cyates@thewright.org
313.494-5839
Kelly Miner
Marketing & Communications Manager
Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History
kminer@thewright.org
313.494.5865
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