ADDRESSING THE MOMENT: THE ARTIST’S VOICE

From the Longview Museum of Fine Arts:

“The Longview Museum of Fine Arts is bringing in a unique set of works as part of its Black History Month celebration. Four large-scale paintings created by emerging Black artists in Wilmington, Delaware, originally painted and installed on the boarded-up storefronts of a main street in the city’s downtown area, will be on display alongside photos of the artistic process.

The boards went up on the windows all over Wilmington’s downtown area on May 31^st, 2020, just hours after the national civil unrest over the murder of George Floyd. The works were commissioned by Jonathan Whitney and Eliza Jarvis of Flux Creative Consulting and Joe Del Tufo of Moonloop Photography. The three organizers sought to find a way to commemorate that moment in time and give Black artists a blank canvas on which to express themselves.

Artists James Wyatt, Jaquanne LeRoy, Jannah Williams, Erica Jones and E. Lize completed works that were on view downtown for several months and gained widespread press as word spread across the nation. “I wanted to show that the history of what we’re fighting for today goes back years and years and years,” says Jannah Williams, the final artist of the four to create her work. “And we’re still fighting for it in different ways, but history is repeating itself as well.”

LMFA Executive Director and Curator of Exhibitions, Tiffany Jehorek, is proud this exhibition ADDRESSING THE MOMENT: THE ARTIST’S VOICE has come to fruition. “The LMFA team wanted to honor black history month and MLK day with a meaningful exhibition and felt this was an important story to share and tell. When I heard the story and saw the images, I was moved and inspired that the organizers and these aspiring black artists found a way to turn a negative into a positive – to create art, to document a moment, and to make their voices and their perspective heard during this galvanizing and challenging moment in history. This is the first time this work, and its photographic essay has been curated and organized for a museum exhibition.” Jehorek says, “In my role as a curator, I seek to bring exhibits that cover a variety of mediums and subject matter in hopes of reaching a wider audience and to fulfill the museum’s mission to “enrich lives and ignite a passion for the arts.”

Exhibitions made possible in part by the City of Longview, the Cultural Activities Advisory Commission and LMFA members and sponsors.

Special Thanks to “