Past Is Present: Black Artists Respond to the Complicated Histories of Slavery
Herron Galleries, Sept., 28, 2022 - Jan., 14, 2023
Press
Textile Tuesday with LaShawnda Crowe Storm for Past is Present, Textile Society of America, Nov. 15
Art exhibition at IUPUI ‘responds’ to history of slavery, Indianapolis Recorder, Nov. 10
Black artists explore the legacy of slavery in 'Past is Present' exhibit at Herron, WRTV, Oct. 4
Herron exhibition to explore Black creative responses to legacy of slaver, Sept, 22
Past Is Present: Black Artists Respond to the Complicated Histories of Slavery raised important questions about slavery’s past and present, reflecting on how this complicated history is not to be repeated in the future. Local histories were used as a starting point for confronting slavery and its legacy. Indiana and Indianapolis are important nexuses of African American history, and struggles surrounding slavery and freedom were foundational to its statehood. The exhibition featured artworks created by African American artists in Indianapolis—like Lobyn Hamilton, Shamira Wilson, Samuel Levi Jones, Carl Pope, LaShawnda Crowe Storm, among others—and nationally renowned black artists like Mary Sibande, Lorna Simpson, Martin Puryear, Roberto Lugo, Sonya Clark, Kara Walker, among others. Historical artifacts from the Indiana Historical Society, Indiana State Museum, Indiana Archives and Records Administration, the American Antiquarian Society in Worcester, Massachusetts, and Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee, were also displayed. Along with the historical objects, the featured artworks envisioned a more just future by drawing creatively from histories of enslavement and its legacy.
