Featuring works by Collin W. Elliott, Shabez Jamal, Alana Marie, Tiffany Sutton, Cami Thomas, Nyara Williams
Histories of Black culture and resilience characterize St. Louis’ resistance to the segregation, displacement, and police brutality for which it is too-often featured in the public eye. It is the city of Maya Angelou, Miles Davis, and Chuck Berry. Of Tina Turner and the Black Artists Group. Of Nelly, Chingy, and Tef Poe. It is the city of promise and action, and as it continues to push against the negative narratives that have long plagued its identity, it is the city’s artists that are weaving legacies of Black resilience to activate new visions of what it can be.
The Griot Museum of Black History in St. Louis will be home to the first showing of an ongoing collaboration between Harvard University and six recipients of its Commonwealth Project’s inaugural #InTheCity Visual Arts Fellowship. The six selected Artist Fellows include Collin W. Elliott, Shabez Jamal, Alana Marie, Tiffany Sutton, Cami Thomas, and Nyara Williams as they explore how film and photography can visually unearth spatial histories, capture nuanced familial rituals, and weave new narratives about what it means to be Black in St. Louis.
This virtual exhibition is curated by De Nichols, Loeb Fellow of the Harvard Graduate School of Design. It is organized for The Griot Museum of Black History by the Harvard University Commonwealth Project.