This exhibition of documentary photographs and original, mixed media pieces, commemorates the 100th year of James Baldwin’s birth.
The show embraces the images already on the walls as part of the exhibition by South African-born photojournalist, Alon Skuy: The Beautiful Struggle: A Journey Through Post-Apartheid Realities. Together the two exhibitions create a symphony of hope amidst the constant noise of daily despair.
The show, curated by Carl-Philippe Juste, owner of IPC ArtSpace and Rebecca Friedman, PhD, of Florida International University, highlights the deep connection between the written word and the visual language.
Inclusive of words and images, Bold. Black. Baldwin. pairs Baldwin’s quotations from the arc of his oeuvre with visual images – including documentary photographs and mixed-media art – made by our award-winning iWitness Fellows and a series of artists from Miami, NYC and New Orleans. Together, the words and the images celebrate Baldwin and inspire audiences to meditate not only on his individual genius, but also on how the past occupies the present and portends the future in Baldwin’s words and work.
The show too embraces place. A particular emphasis is placed on Baldwin’s influence on—and understandings of—notions of Blackness, Queerness and global liberation movements across Latin America, the Caribbean and its global diasporas.
Bold. Black. Baldwin. insists that from memoir to fiction through political treatise and poetry, Baldwin continues to show us how decency and humanity prevail amidst the persistent scourge of racism and inequality. Bold. Black. Baldwin. ultimately allows us to (re)imagine such fundamental notions such as home and humanity.
CreARTE funded by Perez Family Foundation and Miami Foundation.