BRAA @ ArtOmatic DC
Artomatic strengthens the artist community and builds an audience for that community by bringing together artists to temporarily transform available space into a creative place.
High-Speed-Freedom
The Underground Railroad—the resistance to enslavement through escape and flight, through the end of the Civil War—refers to the efforts of enslaved African Americans to gain their freedom by escaping bondage. Wherever slavery existed, there were efforts to escape. At first to maroon communities in remote or rugged terrain on the edge of settled areas and eventually across state and international borders. These acts of self-emancipation labeled slaves as "fugitives," "escapees," or "runaways," but in retrospect "freedom seeker" is a more accurate description. Many freedom seekers began their journey unaided and many completed their self-emancipation without assistance, but each subsequent decade in which slavery was legal in the United States, there was an increase in active efforts to assist escape.
Diasporic Connections
To many, the District of Columbia is known for its magnetic pull home; however, it is not solely a place inhabited by those who were born or voluntarily moved here. It is also occupied by those who were forced to be here, making the city an inherently diasporic space. Those who make up this latter group are often rendered silent when archiving DC’s history. Despite this, diaspora communities have helped mold the city into what it is today, pushing us to take note of the archival voids that are left unfilled to this day.
To honor these communities and their own stories, artists offer social commentary on migration through various mediums. Regardless of where the featured artists’ lineages begin, they all meet and come into dialogue with one another through this exhibition and along DC’s permeable borders.
Curator Atiya Dorsey not only presents an exhibition that serves as a space for us all to co-exist along these borders, but she also actively encourages featured artists to help us move beyond them.
BLACK TRUST
“We don’t trust each other. Who is we? YOU. In our greetings and dealings, we find it hard to trust each other. Trust in money. Trust in love. Trust in politics. Trust in what identifies us as a culture. The “Black Trust with the work of Maurice James Jr explores the story of the Afro-American Banks in our community, and expands into a trusted source that holds all things Black that we value as a people. This exhibition will take you on a historical exploration of Black Trust through communication based art as the artist, Maurice, challenges you to invest and put faith back into your own.
Welcome to the Black Trust Bank.”
ALL BLACK ERRYTHING: POP CULTURE AND NOSTALGIA FROM AFROFUTURIST PERSPECTIVES
Welcome to All Black Errything where it’s possible that a mirthful Black history took place! “Errything” is a phonetic moniker of the pronunciation of “everything” in the local dialect of the DMV (District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia). As we pay homage to our ancestral Native American lands the Monacan Nation, including the Manahoke people, the traditional owners of the lands upon which George Mason University stands. We are also homaging the African descendants who are creating new narratives in the present day.
SOUND PATTERNS
SHAOLIN JAZZ is pleased to present the next edition in our SOUND PATTERNS Art Exhibition
series with No. 8: An exploration of martial arts within the Black aesthetic, on view in
Washington, DC at The Honfleur Gallery from 3.4.23 – 4.8.23.
There has long been a relationship between martial arts and the African diaspora which goes
back for centuries. This relationship has been exhibited in a range of martial arts films where the
poor and disenfranchised fight against an oppressive force. This same sense of resiliency and
affinity towards martial arts culture has also been referenced in hip hop and black music
throughout the ages.
The Black Utopia Museum
A museum should take you on a trip through History and time. Black People often talk about and create spaces just for Black People with a utopian idea but never just call it what it is, a Black Utopia. This Museum at the Anacostia Art Center is created to be the best of those two ideas. A Black Utopian space that tells the history and showcases the Power, Beauty, and Magic of Black People. My hope is that everyone who visits The Museum leaves with an increased level of Black Confidence. The Art on display was created to affect not only the observer's conscious thoughts but also their subconscious. The intention is to create a full mind, body and soul experience - new ideas to lead you into the Afro Future!
Revisionist History: The Champions of Triumph
The works of Maurice James Jr. fit within the ethos of Eaton Workshop DC due to its earnest desire for the representation of an entire community. Eaton strives to not only uplift the human spirit, but to nurture a sense of community and belonging in hopes of cultivating a more humane and just environment. Deeply rooted in community engagement, Eaton welcomes Maurice to join the roster of unique, bold and dynamic artists that it has housed in its halls.
