WEST

Memphis
Highlight Events

April 27- 29, 2023

The highlight events will include receptions and celebrations at select participating venues.

Additionally, note community venues listings on this page for exhibitions or special projects that respond to the theme of RE-PAIR.

MEMPHIS

  • Curated by Patricia Daigle

    Tommy Kha: Eye is Another

  • Tommy Kha: Eye is Another is a site-specific installation in the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art’s rotunda presented as part of the inaugural Tennessee Triennial for Contemporary Art. Activating the rotunda’s floor, walls, and dome, Tommy Kha’s photography-based installation explores issues of identity, authorship, and impersonation through the lens of self-portraiture. The dome features a photo-mosaic composed of various images of the sky taken in and around New York City and Memphis where the artist splits his time.

  • Curated by George Abbott

    Hank Willis Thomas

  • This sculpture is an enlarged Afro pick with a power fist cast in aluminum and spray coated in high gloss black with stainless steel teeth. It is approximately eight feet tall and will be supported by a base (not visible above ground) at a slight tilt. The piece should not weigh more than 800 pounds.

    The origin of the Afro pick dates back to the time of ancient Egyptians as an article of status and cultural belonging. The clenched black fist comb in particular is associated with the 1970s Black Power Movement. As an accessory of a hairstyle, it represented counterculture and civil rights during one of the most important eras of American history. It exists today as many things to different people; it is worn as adornment, a political emblem, and signature of collective identity. The Afro pick continues to develop itself as a testament to innovation.

    This piece serves to highlight ideas related to community, strength, perseverance, comradeship, and resistance to oppression.

  • Curated by Kylon Wagner

    Talibah Safiya
    Bertram Williams Jr.

  • Bertram Williams Jr. and Talibah Safiya are creatively known as Mama's Sundry, a social enterprise composed of creative entrepreneurs who have come together with a shared mission to promote more healthful, environmentally sustainable living.

    We learn from the flora and fauna of our communities to employ the magic that is our heritage, our future. We are working in community to remember the ways of our ancestors so that we might repair the harm done to our land and our People.

    Our explorations to be showcased during the Triennial will create the space for individuals and institutions alike to engage in the process of Repair. Through a series of musical performances by Talibah Safiya, a short film and lecture series by Bertram Williams Jr, and a communal gardening exhibition, we will create the space for conversation and inspired action.

  • Curated by Lauren Kennedy

    Sarah Elizabeth Cornejo
    Verushka Dior of The Mane Wildling
    Joel Parsons

  • UrbanArt Commission presents Tend To, a flora-filled group exhibition featuring works from artist and curator Joel Parsons, interdisciplinary sculptural artist Sarah Elizabeth Cornejo, and floral designer and botanical artist Verushka Dior of the Mane Wildling that invites us to take pause, tend to nature, and therefore tend to self. Exploring themes of healing, growth, and self identity - this installation will include a selection of curated objects and site-specific sculptural works that ask the viewer to ponder how and by what means does one begin to care for themselves, others, and the world around them.

Find more art at Tennessee Triennial Community Venues