Giertz Gallery
Parkland College
2400 W Bradley Ave
Champaign, IL 61820
November 14, 2022 – February 18, 2023
In Blackest Shade, In Darkest Light, curated by Patrick Earl Hammie, centers around drawing as a technology from which artists speculate, recover and collect communal histories, and manifest stories of desired futures from the margins of imagination into the realities of the everyday. The title draws inspiration from DC’s Green Lantern Corps’ oath, “In brightest day, in blackest night, no evil shall escape my sight. Let those who worship evil’s might, beware my power, Green Lantern’s light,” from which members of the fictional space guardians access magical strength and gather the will to challenge adversaries using their imagination. Invited artists revel in speculation ranging from horror, Afrofuturism and Africanfuturism, magical realism, Ethno-gothic, science fiction and fantasy, Black Quantum Futurism, utopias and dystopias, to superheroes.
Featuring work from: Kumasi J. Barnett, William Downs, Kenyatta Forbes, Patrick Earl Hammie, Robert Pruitt, Stacey Robinson, and Charles Edward Williams.
READ the review > “In Blackest Shade, In Darkest Light is a study of value and imagination not to be missed,” Debra Domal, Smile Politely
WATCH > Kumasi J. Barnett’s lecture
