Whitfield Lovell, considered one of the world’s most significant contemporary artists and recipient of the prestigious MacArthur Foundation’s “genius grant” will speak at the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts in October.
Lovell’s “Artist Talk” takes place ahead of the opening of an exhibition featuring his work. That exhibition, “Whitfield Lovell: Passages,” launches Oct. 27. The artist will speak at the AMFA at 6 p.m. Oct. 26.
“Passages” will be on display in the Harriet and Warren Stephens Galleries through Jan. 14, 2024.
“Lovell’s work examines themes of identity, history, memory, and the African American experience. His projected and staged installations, drawings of anonymous individuals, and thoughtful use of found objects create a multi-sensory experience that will compel and transport visitors to connect with the art and their own experiences,” Victoria Ramirez, AMFA executive director, said in a statement.
The exhibit will features drawings, assemblages, and installations that focus on African American history and raise questions about identity, memory, and heritage, the AMFA said in a news release. Lovell’s work is inspired by photographs of unidentified African Americans taken between the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 and the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s.
“Passages” will mark the first time Lovell’s major installations, “Deep River” (2013) and “Visitation: The Richmond Project” (2001) are shown together and on view in Arkansas.
“Deep River” details freedom seekers’ journeys across the Tennessee River to Chattanooga’s Camp Contraband, which housed African Americans fleeing the South during the Civil War and the Restruction era that followed.
More information can be found at https://arkmfa.org.
Sign up for Daily E-news
