This path was created by Alicia Peaker. The last update was by Carrie Robbins.
Kris Graves: The Testament Project
Kris Graves exhibits selections from his series The Testament Project, a collection of photographs, videos, and testimonials aimed to represent and explore blackness in contemporary America. Graves's portraits are flooded with brightly colored lights that complicate assumptions about what blackness looks like. An oversized, hot pink portrait of the artist's sister, Jessica, will greet visitors at the entrance to the gallery, even as she confronts the permanently installed painting of M. Carey Thomas by John Singer Sargent. The juxtaposition asks us to bear witness to the trauma of institutional exclusion of black students under Thomas's presidency, to attend to the persistence of traditional privileges, and to imagine a path forward toward transformation. More than 20 photographs, subject testimonials, and a video are on view.