Alcorn to host art exhibition and forum on race and history

Published 2:04 pm Friday, March 29, 2024

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An art exhibition and conversation on race and history will be held Wednesday, April 3, at Alcorn State University, Lorman, in Belles Lettres Hall.

 The program is hosted by the Alluvial Collective, Mississippi Humanities Council and Alcorn State University’s Southwest Mississippi Center for Culture and Learning.

It will start with the launch of Mikael Levin’s exhibition, “Critical Places: Sites of American Slave Rebellion,” from 1 to 3 p.m.

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 Following the exhibition, guests will be asked to join a facilitated dialogue circle from 3 to 4:30 p.m. to discuss their thoughts, according to organizers.

On Thursday, April 4, another dialogue will be held at the same time and place.

“Levin’s exhibition, which is touring the South, features compelling photographs of historic landscapes that were once the sites of slave rebellions, raising important questions for viewers about the history of race in America,” said Teresa Busby, executive director of Alcorn’s Southwest Mississippi Center for Culture and Learning.

Levin said the rebellions continue to have an impact. “In showing how the rebellions of the enslaved are remembered in the landscape (or the lack thereof), I hope to prompt an awareness of how these rebellions still reverberate in social patterns and economic structures,” he said.

Inspired by the exhibited photographs, the Alluvial Collective’s dialogue circles provide a facilitated space for discussions with a focus on deep listening, storytelling and radical empathy.

 “Over our 25 years of work, we’ve found that art serves as a very powerful entry point to engage with history. It takes people out of their usual way of thinking, leaving them open to new perspectives,” said April Grayson, director of Community and Capacity Building at The Alluvial Collective. “The visual power of Levin’s photographs reminds people that history is among us, even in places that seem mundane.”

 “Critical Places” will be on display until May 31. For more information, call Teresa Busby at phone 601-877-6551 or visit https://alluvialcollective.org/.