CURATION

Human ContrastS / “…VETERANS OF CREATIVE SUFFERING”

Dec. 22 – Jan. 31, 2021

Mesa Contemporary Arts (MCA) Museum

In conjunction with the Regional Unity Art Walk

^{Human contrasts are those individuals that on the surface appear very dissimilar and disconnected.  What might an old white man have in common with a young Black man?  In “nowspeak” it might be expressed as intersectionality. Perhaps they are poor… and employers will not hire “their kind”. Perhaps they are both experiencing food insecurity… and depend on fleeting street kitchens. Perhaps they are both military veterans… which has resulted in mental health issues and an unwieldy system has failed them. Perhaps they are immigrants… scanning the air for a reassuring and familiar phrase. Perhaps they are homeless… and lonely. Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. referred to them in his famous “I Have A Dream” speech. They have always existed in the world, the country and in Arizona.  In this exhibition artists Sebastiao Pereira, Leonard Wilson, Scott Chamberlain and Peter Votichenko look deep into humanity to render the Veterans of Creative Suffering that are all around us.}

The Great Migration | Indiscernibles in Arizona

ASU School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Oct. 2019 – Dec. 2019

Stevens-Haustgen Heritage Gallery, Heritage Square, Jan. 2020 – Mar. 2020

^{This exhibit is part of a larger multi-disciplinary project of the same name developed by Emancipation Arts, LLC in collaboration with ASU’s School of Human Evolution and Social Change.}

^{The Great Migration was the relocation of more than six million African Americans from the rural South to the cities of the North, Midwest and West from about 1915 to 1970. Despite the significant growth of Arizona’s  African American population during this period, the impact of this migration has had little acknowledgement, which has heavily contributed to marginalization and the rendering Black people and their stories as indiscernible. This exhibit explores shared threads of experience surrounding the migration. It provides a glimpse into the lives of ordinary Black Arizonans. It celebrates the survival of the ancestors and the establishment of enduring and thriving communities in the Valley despite Jim Crowe and stigma.}

THE SPILLOVER EFFECT

October 18th- November 9th, 2019

Modified Arts Gallery, Phoenix AZ

Michael Massenberg, Leonard Wilson, Nicholas Murray, and C.A. Hammons

^{“The first study, “Police Killings and their Spillover Effects on the Mental Health of Black Americans,” published June 21st in the medical journal The Lancet, finds that black people report having poor mental health days in the months after an unarmed African American has been killed by police. The “spillover effect” denotes the finding that such police killings tend to mentally affect African Americans in general, regardless of whether they have a personal connection to the person killed or not. “}

^{This invitational exhibition features the work of established Black artists; making visual statements about how police violence and the potential for police violence has psychologically affected them and their communities.}

Phoenix Center for the Arts, Resident Curator

The Larry Wilson Gallery, Phoenix Center for the Arts

Group and Solo Exhibitions with featured artists;

Bob Martin, Bill Goodman, Scott Chamberlain, Peter Votechenko, Sebastiao Pereira