Inspired by current exhibition, symposium explores the Black experience

Samantha Granados, Contributing Writer

The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts hosts “Picturing the Black Racial Imaginary,” where people will explore the complexities of the Black experience in the United States and draw parallels between past and present histories, according to the VMFA’s press release. 

“Picturing the Black Racial Imaginary,” a two-day symposium, inspired by the VMFA exhibition “Dawoud Bey: Elegy,” will occur on Jan. 26 and 27 in the Leslie Cheek Theater at the VMFA, according to the VMFA website.  

The “Dawoud Bey: Elegy” exhibition includes 42 photographs and two film installations by Dawoud Bey, a contemporary American artist, according to the VMFA website. In this exhibition, Bey examines the haunting journeys and human realities of the Virginia slave trail, Louisiana plantations and Ohio’s Underground Railroad. The exhibition will be on display until Feb. 25. 

The symposium includes a keynote address from New York Times best-selling author of “How the Word Is Passed,” Clint Smith, Ph.D., on Jan. 26. Smith’s presentation will connect the hidden ties between contemporary economic and socio-political landscapes and the history of African American enslavement, according to the VMFA’s press release. 

Presentations from scholars, writers, artists and community activists will occur on Jan. 27,  which will explore the intersection of history, art and the contemporary realities of Black experiences, according to the VMFA website.

Participant speakers for day two of the symposium include Dawoud Bey and Valerie Cassel Oliver, as well as Omilade Janine Bell, LeRonn P. Brooks, Ph.D., Rashida Bumbray, Ana Edwards and more, according to the VMFA website.

The symposium’s purpose is to probe the exhibition and encourage dialogue to uncover its meaning, according to Celeste Fetta, the Joan P. Brock director of education and assistant deputy director for art and education of the VMFA. This helps people better understand the work and each other in the Richmond community.

The VMFA hopes attendees will carry what they’ll learn and respond to emotions they feel; if one person acts on those emotions and learnings to propel under-told histories forward, that’s a win, according to Fetta.

“The past is never really the past; it continues on to impact how we exist in this day and age, so we really do need to understand our history to really be the best that we can be as a country,” said Valerie Cassel Oliver, a presenter at the event and a Sydney and Frances Lewis Family Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art.

Bringing these thinkers together to meditate on the ideas of Bey’s exhibition provides a greater context for what people see beyond reading the catalog, the book accompanying the exhibition and the text within the exhibition, according to Oliver.

“Where there is an understanding, there can be a space of empathy and that only makes us stronger as a community,” Oliver said. “If we understand each other’s histories, we have a greater understanding of ourselves.”

Ana Edwards, an assistant professor of African American Studies at VCU, will be a panel speaker on Jan. 27 for the “Preserving Our Histories: A Panel Discussion” segment, according to the symposium program. 

She specializes in promoting the story of Gabriel’s Rebellion and hopes attendees will feel inspired to explore Richmond’s history and find new ways to connect with it, Edwards said. 

“The imagining comes when you take people to a place where historic events happen,” Edwards said.

In-person tickets are sold out, but a free live stream will be available for both days; registration is required for the keynote address on Jan. 26 through Zoom at this link, according to the VMFA website.