BY MARQUETTE FOLLEY, HAILI FRANCIS, HANK WILLIS THOMAS
August 17 – December 1, 2019
OPENING RECEPTION: Saturday, August 17, 4pm – 8pm
National Underground Railroad Freedom Center
50 E Freedom Way
Cincinnati, OH 45202
Skirball Gallery, Third Floor
Men of Change: Power. Triumph. Truth. presents for new generations a ten-city national touring exhibition that tells a narrative of America through the profiles of 25 African-American men who are icons in the country’s historical and cultural landscape, including: Muhammad Ali, James Baldwin, Ta-Nehisi Coates, W.E.B. Du Bois, and Kendrick Lamar. Each biography is paired with original artwork that accentuates the subjects’ individual legacies and weaves a collective tapestry of black male identity and contribution. I am contributing a commissioned portrait of Romare Bearden (1911-1988): a visual artist, activist, and author known for his oil paintings and collages focused on black community, identity, and narrative.
Contributing artists include: Nina Chanel Abney, Derrick Adams, David Alekhuogie, Braulio Amado, Radcliffe Bailey, Knowledge Bennett, Alfred Conteh, Cary Fagan, Shaunte Gates, Patrick Earl Hammie, Jelsen Lee Innocent, Jas Knight, Shaun Leonardo, Nate Lewis, Troy Michie, Mario Moore, Robert Pruitt, Joe Prytherch, Ag Rojas, Tariku Shiferaw, Devan Shimoyama, Sisson, Paul Anthony Smith, Andre Wagner, Hank Willis Thomas.
Men of Change: Power. Triumph. Truth. was developed by the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service and made possible through generous support of the Ford Motor Company Fund and Community Services.
