September 20, 2018

Last Thursday, I visited the Detangling/Unraveling The Politics of Hair: Black Tennessee exhibit at the Tipton Gallery downtown. The exhibition had art of multiple different medias by artists Brandon Donahue, Olivia Ellis, Jessica Gatlin, Lawrence Matthews, Lester Merriweather, Carl E Moore, Althea Murphy-Price, and Carlton Wilkinson. The main themes of the show were the politics of hair, cultural heritage, and representation in society and also how all of those elements fuse with each other. I was really struck by the variation of medias in the show… having silkscreen, black and white photographs, collages, and even pieces made from deconstructed basketballs and wood and how all of them made a political statement. Overall, I really enjoyed the show and thought it was really successful at conveying such powerful statements through a small exhibit. After visiting the gallery, I went to the Slocumb Galleries in Ball Hall for the Diverse & Beautiful: Black Artists in Tennessee and Appalachia Panel. After a nice little reception, the discussion started out with a walk-through the gallery (the Diverse & Beautiful: Interchangeable exhibit) led by Althea Murphy-Price as she talked about her works and the processes behind her art. I enjoyed hearing her talk about her work in such a personal way and setting and was amazed at how well she was at conveying her ideas behind her creativity and the inspirations behind what she does. After the walk-through, everyone went into the auditorium for the more formal panel discussion. In this, Carlton Wilkinson showed a presentation of a collection of color and black and white photographs that he took during a project that he was assigned to do in the late 90’s about a small, now, ghost-town just outside of the Tennessee border. He shared many pictures that he called “slice of life photos” of a predominately black community that had come together for a reunion. Being into photography myself, I loved the presentation and especially the way the photos were shot, capturing people in seemingly ordinary yet picturesque situations…But there was something so charming and beautiful about the pictures and the bittersweet story that went along with them, I really enjoyed it and was motivated by it to do more work with photography! After the presentation, there were questions from the audience which both artists, Carlton Wilkinson and Althea Murphy-Price, answered eloquently, shedding more light on their creative views of the world and providing the entire crowd with artistic understanding and food for thought.