This weekend, Shawn and I took a day-trip up to Jackson, MS. Not only was it time for a day-trip date, we were invited to celebrate the Opening Weekend of a new art collection that is the brainchild of our very own state: “A Movement In Every Direction: The Great Migration”. The Mississippi Museum of Art partnered with Baltimore’s Art museum to curate pieces of 12 Black artists who paid homage to their heritage and told the intimate and profound stories of The Great Migration, that is very much relevant still today.
When we were first invited to the show, I was a little nervous because I’m admittedly fairly uneducated on the details of The Great Migration and the details therein, but I am so thankful and honored to have attended this celebration of Black History and meet these 12 artists who so bravely and intimately shared the stories of their families through these pieces. Understanding the personal histories that surround The Great Migration, with the consideration for how this still affects our neighbors and friends today was such an eye opening experience that I’ll forever carry with me.
The exhibit featured 3 film pieces and several more modern works, including handwritten letters (which I loved reading) and several large-scale multi-media works. These artists’ ability to so clearly tell a story is such an amazing talent, and I’m so thankful that The Mississippi Museum of Art called on these talented men and women to reach back into their histories and tell the stories of their families. I’m even more excited that these stories will be toured around the country for other people to experience as a landmark of resilience and determination for the South.
10/10 would recommend hitting Manship for brunch on a Saturday, taking a walk through the Mississippi Museum of Art’s courtyard, and spending the afternoon learning about the stories that have helped to shape all of us, in some way or another. The exhibit will be here in the South, only at the Mississippi Museum of Art until September 11. After that, it’ll be in Baltimore, so catch it while you can!
If you’d like to learn before you go, join me in adding these books to the TBR:
-Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson
-Lose Your Mother by Saidiya Hartman
-Wayward Lives Beautiful Experiments Saidiya Hartman
-The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson
-Making a Way out of No Way by Lisa Krissoff Boehm
If you’d like to plan a trip, click this link to learn how!
We become better as a collective when we take time to listen and learn about the stories around us— your world does not exist in a vacuum.
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