Indiana State University Newsroom

Public Blackness, an exhibition spanning all three of ISU's galleries, will present virtual reality, static and interactive art forms to engage and re-engage the public in the ongoing conversation about healing unresolved local and national racial issues. The galleries are the Turman Gallery, Yang Family University Art Gallery, and Bare-Montgomery Gallery.

Leading this seminal event's orchestration and curation are Dr. Adeyemi Doss of the Indiana State University Department of Multidisciplinary Studies and Gallery Director Tanmaya Bingham. Artists whose works will be featured in the show include Dread Scott, Courtland Blade, Idris Habib, Ayana Ross, Abe Abraham (Abanar Productions LLC.), Scatter/Rada Studio LLC, and others.

A reception for Public Blackness will take place in all three galleries on Thursday, February 16 from 4-8 p.m. A presentation and performance will take place from 5:30-7 p.m. in the Margaret L. Boyce Recital Hall of the Landini Center for Performing and Fine Arts. The evening will include a short play and song, both written by Dr. Bryant Clayton, an ISU alumnus now living in Houston, Texas. Clayton will be present for the performance, which will be directed by Dr. Arthur Feinsod.

Speakers will include Kori Miller, Executive Director of the Evansville African American Museum and Valerie Hart-Craig, Assistant Director of the Charles E. Brown African American Cultural Center, and others.

Writings by local historians Dr. Crystal Reynolds and Dr. Anne Mahady will also be featured in the exhibit.

"Public Blackness demonstrates how the Black body in a racially divided society gradually disappears from our understanding of what it means to be a human," Doss said. "What transpires when the Black body is captured in our gaze — a gaze that has been trained to only view it as a problem everywhere it exists? What happens when the myths from our past — which were frequently used to justify its destruction — become ingrained in our imagination of its existence today? One should leave the exhibition knowing a bit more about what makes the Black body vulnerable to the violence it still endures today."

A panel discussion will take place the following day on February 17 from 3-4 p.m. in the Turman Gallery in the Fine Arts Building. All events are free and open to the public.

Representatives from local community partners will speak. They include Art Spaces, Inc., now working to build awareness of the Lost Creek Settlement through public art; the Swope Art Museum, displaying artworks by African American Artists from ISU's Permanent Art Collection; the Vigo County History Center, showcasing Fannie Blumberg's Rowena Teena Tot books in the Turman Gallery; and other organizations.