LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Inside the Speed Art Museum, hundreds of pieces tell hundreds of stories, but the latest installation hopes to bring onlookers a new different perspective.
Guests were met with a plethora of activities, along with a panel which previewed the museum’s latest exhibit: “The Promise.”
The project features 28-pieces created by eight community-based artists along with New York-based, lead-artist Roberto Visani.
Artists worked with various creative mediums, ranging from photography, to documentary film-making, to sculpting and welding.
Toya Northington, the director of Equity, Inclusion and Belonging at the Speed Art Museum, said the project has been in planning for more than a year and looks to facilitate collective healing, reflection and creative expression for members of the Black community.
“The idea came from my steering committee. We were working on power witness remembrance, and really talking about how to honor Breonna Taylor's life, and how to build on her legacy,” Northington said. “To really bring attention to guns, and how guns have affected the Black community, gun violence, specifically.”
She and other featured artists took an approach that showed not just interpersonal violence, but also suicide, domestic violence and child abuse among the Black community.
Artists partook in a workshop in preparation for the exhibit, which used evidence-based research and facilitated deeply personal discussions regarding gun violence and racial trauma, that helped them explore new artmaking techniques.
They hope those who see their work will think it’s more than simply eye-catching.
“If we talk about it in a holistic way, and a way that is out-front, it will be able to help us move, and change policy,” featured artist Keturah Herron said.
Those conversations began during a panel with the artists Sunday, inside the exhibit, where they shared the backstories which shaped their work. Those in attendance also participated in the conversation.
“I still go back to my forefathers knowing what they went through,” one participant said. "It's a shame in 2022, we're still grappling with this in our community and nationwide."
The Museum will carry “The Promise” exhibit through Oct. 23, with free admissions for anyone interested in visiting.
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