Freedom Center hosting Truth & Healing Artist Showcase starting July 14

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 29, 2023
MEDIA CONTACT: Cody Hefner (513) 608-5777, chefner@nurfc.org

Freedom Center exhibition shares artists' truths and encourages healing

Truth & Healing Artist Showcase opens July 14, in partnership with ArtsWave

CINCINNATI – The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center is once again partnering with ArtsWave to give Black and Brown artists a platform to share their truth and encourage healing. The Truth & Healing Artist Showcase will feature the work of five artists at the Freedom Center from July 14 to September 10.

This year’s Truth & Healing Artist Showcase focuses on the themes of healing, rebirth and reconnection. The exhibition highlights the struggles that people of color experience within the Cincinnati region, including the mental challenges that come with cultural and racial divisions and the ongoing inequities Black and Brown people face. Despite these challenges, glimmers of hope shine brightly, allowing us to heal by reminding us what Black love looks like and the quest for joy during difficult times. The showcase is the Freedom Center’s third annual collaboration with ArtsWave through the Black and Brown Artist Program.

“Art has the incredible power to convey emotions, experiences and messages where words fail us,” said Woodrow Keown, Jr., president & COO of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center. “For artists from communities that are so often muted, we’re proud to offer them a platform through which they can showcase their voice, their talent and their unique experiences.”

Among the artists and works featured in the Freedom Center exhibition are:

• ASHA AMA’s AGAPE, a couture collection of menswear and womenswear exploring gender fluidity and Black people’s intentional separation while highlighting our unique ability to possess agape – or selfless – love. Though the world has strategically broken down Black people’s connection to their own identity, they still find ways to dream, find each other and love.
• Julia Orquera Bianco’s TOGETHERNESS, a canvas tent cyanotyped using organic material collected from Burnet Woods. The piece invites viewers inside, where they can rest on handmade cushions, evoking a gathering around a bonfire as they also interact with a series of poems written during Bianco’s “Walking the Winter” sessions.
• Brent Billingsley’s I’m Listening, which features a collaboration between the artist, Cincinnati Police Department and students at Woodward Career Technical High School that produced a line of hand-designed, costume-painted, artistically-rendered garments. The content is the result of a series of discussions between students, teachers and police that empower youth through creativity, relationship-building and care.
• Michael Coppage’s HANDS BEHIND YOUR BACK!, part of his “12 Commandments” series. The bronze sculpture is a powerful commentary on police brutality disproportionately targeting Black and Brown communities. The piece plays on the Biblical commandments “Thou shalt not kill” and “Thou shalt not bear false witness” and the way police have historically used the power of their position to justify institutionalized violence against people of color. The sculpture further highlights how even compliance with these commands can result in death. The piece is not meant to demonize police but to speak out against the assertion of power over Black bodies and the systemic issues that arise as a result.
• Michael Thompson’s Murmurations, which uses the mesmerizing flight of thousands of starlings, as they flock in intricate and undulating patterns, to highlight the power of collective action to protect and progress our communities. The work draws parallels between natural and human systems and recognizes the strength and beauty of interconnectedness as a force for the common good in our efforts toward justice and dignity.

“As we stand before these works of art, I hope we hear their stories and can begin to open our hearts to the shared beauty of our humanity,” added Keown. “If we can do that, we can begin the healing process that will spur us closer to inclusive freedom for all.”

The exhibition is funded through ArtsWave’s Black and Brown Artist Program, the largest commissioning art program for local artists of color. The program was created to provide financial support and to interpret the themes of our times. In doing so, it has helped artists explore not only the African American and Black experience, but also attempt to reconcile issues related to Mexican, Lebanese, Somali, Argentinian, Zimbabwean, Guatemalan and Indigenous heritage. Artists collaborated with community members and partners in their projects, so the larger public could participate in the process of healing, including reconnection and rebirth. The Black and Brown Artist Program is supported by the City of Cincinnati, Macy’s, Duke Energy, Fifth Third Bank, Greater Cincinnati Foundation and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center.

The Freedom Center will also host film screening and live performances as part of ArtsWave’s larger Black and Brown Artists program. Live performances are scheduled for July 15 and film screenings on July 16 and 30.