CRAFTING BLACKNESS

Remembering

REMEMBERING: Resist, Reveal, Reclaim

UT Downtown Gallery
May 31 – August 3, 2025

Curators:

Karlota I. Contreras-Koterbay, Director, Slocumb Galleries, East Tennessee State University

Dr. Cynthia Gadsden, Associate Professor of Art History at Tennessee State University

For exhibition and event details, visit: https://downtown.utk.edu/remembering-resist-reveal-reclaim/

Remembering is the rich currency of memory. A currency that deals solely in story, much like stitched together fragments of a person’s life after they have passed. _Recalling a loved one’s words can help us form a picture of who they were and how they lived. Remembering serves as a connective thread, -linking lineage, legacy, and identity between individuals, families, and communities, reminding us of who we are and where we came from. Remembering is a link to an object or idea, offering comfort, honing our will to persevere, or tapping our mettle. Remembering provides an abundance of knowledge, wisdom, and insight.

“REMEMBERING: Resist, Reveal, ReClaim” is presented by Crafting Blackness Initiative, a five-year collaborative research, publication, and exhibition series to advance the visibility of Black Craft and African American artists in Tennessee since 1920 up to present. Exhibiting artists include Omari Booker, Ashley Buchanan, Jason Flack, Genesis the Greykid, Barbara + Leroy Hodges, Desmond Lewis, Carl Moore, LaKesha Moore, Elisheba Mrozik, Ashley Seay, Jamall Sheats, Lorenzo Swinton, and Gary White.

The exhibition is co-curated by Karlota Contreras-Koterbay, Director of Slocumb Galleries at East Tennessee State University and Director of the Crafting Blackness Initiative, and Dr. Cynthia Gadsden, Associate Professor of Art History at Tennessee State University, whose research areas include the visual arts, the lived experience, and the ways knowledge is transferred across generations via culture, relationships, and story.

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