Emancipation: The Unfinished Project of LiberationThis stunning exhibition catalog visualizes what freedom looks like for Black Americans today and the legacy of the Civil War in 2023 and beyond. Emancipation: The Unfinished Project of Liberation sits at the intersection of history and contemporary life. Building upon in-depth conversations about representations of enslavement and emancipation at the close of the Civil War, this project originates from an analysis of sculptor John Quincy Adams Ward’s The Freedman (1863), one of the first bronze representations of a Black person in the United States, and expands into an investigation of how living artists envision emancipation, freedom, and liberation today. Featuring interviews with artists Sadie Barnette, Alfred Conteh, Maya Freelon, Hugh Hayden, Letitia Huckaby, Jeffrey Meris, and Sable Elyse Smith, the exhibition catalog explores their practices along with cutting-edge scholarship by Kirsten Pai Buick and Kelvin Parnell, among others, as well as a haunting story of embodiment and exploitation by celebrated science-fiction author N. K. Jemisin. Burdened by failed promises but buoyed by hope, this project is mournful and melancholy yet also reflective and celebratory in its aspirations for a brighter future. Published in association with the Amon Carter Museum of American Art Exhibition dates: Amon Carter Museum of American Art: March 12–July 9, 2023 Newcomb Art Museum at Tulane University: August 5–November 11, 2023 Williams College Museum of Art: February 16–June 16, 2024 |
Common terms and phrases
abolition abolitionism abolitionist Academy of Design African Americans Alfred Conteh American Sculpture Amon Carter Museum antislavery Archives Art Museum artist Atlanta University Art Black figure Black subject Boston Charles Rollinson Lamb Civil Clark Atlanta University color contemporary create dated front depicts Emancipation Proclamation embodied Enri exhibition Forever Free Fort Wagner foundry Freed in American Freedman freedom Frémont front of base Gallery Gift Henry Henry-Bonnard Historical Society inches Indian Hunter J. Q. A. Ward James Jackson Jarves Jeffrey Meris Jessie John Quincy Adams Kirk Savage Kneeling Slaves liberation Lincoln Marcus Wood Master Metropolitan Museum monument Murray Museum of American Museum of Art National Academy Negro Olivia Pennsylvania Academy Photo Pindell plaster political Quincy Adams Ward race Rachel Ward racial representation Riddle Sadie Barnette shackles slavery statuette tion Tubman University Press viewers violence Ward Papers Ward’s Ward's The Freedman Washington White York Zelma Watson George