Cedric Smith paints the portraits that were never painted at the time. He is not reimagining history, but reinscribing an erasure. The deep reservoirs of knowledge and skill required for equine work are still rarely attributed to the folks who built the equine industry that underpinned all of western civilization. First, our ability to travel, to explore, and to accumulate wealth, and then the privileged thrill of a leisure class that creates games for the sake of furthering status– both required the expertise and effort of African Americans.

Fonder’s newest video installation, Non Sequitur, meditates on cycles of ideas, life, and physical materials. In it, she explores entropy, the cyclical patterns of nature as well as the messiness of a lark, or unexpected turn. The term ‘non sequitur’ translates from Latin to mean “it does not follow.” Embracing this ethos, this installation reflects fractured roving thoughts and mirrors the futile effort to ‘keep it together’. Through the animated duplication of her sculptural works, she invites viewers to reflect on how the sausage is made–within her work and beyond. 

Curated by Micah Mermilliod in partnership with The Do Good Fund, this exhibition celebrates ways of being, the familiar and unexpected alike. Through the lenses of these photographers, history and modernity intersect, and the ordinary becomes extraordinary. While not always traditionally beautiful, the allure, honesty, and unpredictability found in these everyday moments resonates like jazz through humid Southern air.

This exhibition is an anti-retrospective guided by artist Pinky/MM Bass, a pillar of the Southern art scene. Building on a long history of collaboration, Bass is creating work that both enlists and pays homage to the folx that have impacted her work and life over her long career.