Black History Meets Contemporary Talent

A Three-Part Exhibition

By Shannon Hicks

BRIDGEPORT — For the second consecutive year, Black Rock Art Center is offering a Black History Celebration for the month of February (Black History Month) and into the first week of March. An opening reception last weekend at the Bridgeport gallery space offered visitors the opportunity to not only take in the temporary exhibition of images by two African American photographers and items from a collection of slave memorabilia, but also allowed those in attendance to immerse themselves into some of the sounds, sights, and even flavors of black culture.

During the late afternoon and early evening hours of February 2, guests who made their way to the art center (BRAC) had the opportunity to watch the screening of a documentary covering the history of blues and jazz, “which has its roots in black history and culture,” pointed out BRAC board member Joe Celli. “We should be celebrating the history and contributions of African Americans every day,” Mr Celli said later. “African Americans make significant contributions to every part of life. Today we’re here to talk about and celebrate art.”

There was also a buffet of food from nearby Miss Thelma’s Restaurant (140 Fairfield Avenue) featuring a pasta and meatballs dish, corn bread that just melted in your mouth, green beans with garlic, and, of course, a ton of fried chicken. On top of that, the New Orleans transplant Renard Boissiere offered a set of music at 6 pm, after most folks had had their dinner and taken in the show.

But the main draw of the afternoon — and for the rest of the month — are the brilliant photographs by New Haven photographer Deana Lawson, the stark black and white collection by Bridgeport artist Yves Francois Wilson, and items from the personal collection of Craig Kelly, president of the Bridgeport chapter of the NAACP and an instructor with the African Burial Ground Project in New York City.

Ms Lawson’s photos come from her “Rochester Portrait Series,” which portrays individuals in the artist’s hometown. The digital C-prints are glorious in their color (which is one part of the printing process, one part the talent of the photographer’s eye) and offer a collection of subjects in their home environment, whether literally inside their home or just outside their front door.

The images depict strangers, friends and family, and bridge multiple generations, socioeconomic differences, and personal circumstances.

“The photos,” Ms Lawson wrote in her artist’s statement for the exhibition, “are a document of my search for epic qualities within people who exist in the community I am from.”

Yves Wilson is a fine art photographer whose work usually deals with youth and modern street culture, as well as trends and subcultures among city dwellers. A major recurring theme in his photographs is of the station of young people, particularly of African descent, living in modern America and their perceived place in society “either self or externally imposed both real or imagined,” he wrote in part in his artist’s statement.

Having said all that, however, none of the eight photographs he selected for the Black History Celebration include a single person. Mr Wilson’s works are just about a polar opposite of Ms Lawson’s: they are humanless, black and white images that count on contrast for their strength. Like Ms Lawson, however, he also has a strength in composing his images.

While it is one thing to read about slavery or watch films about the treatment of men and women who were forced to work and live against their will, it is something else altogether to see and touch shackles that once bound a human being to another human or a machine or the inside of a ship, or to see a simple white robe with an embroidered patch that could instill fear in a grown man.

Craig Kelly collects these items, and countless others, and offers them for presentation and display. He has been collecting “for quite some time,” he said on February 2. Mr Kelly has found, according to his website (OriginalAncestors.com), Middle Passage shackles, American slave shackles, branding slave irons, British slave shackles, crab-shaped runaway slave ankle shackles, slave currency, Ku Klux Klan robes, quilts related to The Underground Railroad, a Civil War muster roll belonging to colored troops, Revolutionary War documents, slave documents, books and pamphlets both pro and con slavery, an abolition newspaper, and other items of interest. He has traveled across the United States to collect the items. The majority have come, he said Saturday, from Mississippi and South Carolina.

The mission of his organization, Original Ancestors, “is to collect, preserve, document, and promote all artifacts related to the African Holocaust, and to understand, educate, honor, respect, empower, and celebrate the struggles of our ancestors.”

Items at BRAC include a cotton scale, one of the aforementioned Middle Passage shackles, a whip (“That doesn’t need an explanation,” Mr Kelly said somberly), a KKK robe, a pair of large posters illustrating “American History — An African Perspective” and “World History — An African Perspective,” one of three slave symbol quilts from Mr Kelly’s collection, a copy of Life of James Mars — A Slave born and sold in Connecticut, and a November 30, 1855, issue of Liberator, the Boston-based abolitionist newspaper founded by William Lloyd Garrison in 1831.

“This is just a small part of my collection,” he said Saturday afternoon. “But someday maybe I’ll have a museum and be able to share all of this at once.” Meanwhile he collaborates with organizations (including Bridgeport Amistad Committee; Bridgeport Correctional Institution; Fulton County Juvenile Justice Department, Atlanta, Ga.; Greenwich Historical Society; Juvenile Correctional Institutions in Bridgeport, Hartford, and New Haven; Quinnipiac University; and University of Havana, Cuba, among many others), radio and television stations (including WPKN Bridgeport; Channel 12 Norwalk) to share the knowledge and show the artifacts he continues to collect.

The Black History Celebration will remain on view until March 8.

BRAC will be offering a series of programs related to its Black History Celebration. Programs are all free of charge and will be at the art center unless noted. Refreshments will be served during each event.

There will be a screening of A Duke Named Ellington this weekend. The 3 pm screening on Sunday, February 10, will feature a documentary The Los Angeles Times called “in a class by itself … a triumph of film and tape research … it is achingly good.”

On Friday, February 15, author Bruce A. Jacobs will speak on “Getting Real About Race.” Mr Jacobs, the author of Race Manners for the 21st Century: Navigating the Minefield Between Black and White Americans in an Age of Fear, will be at the art center for a 7:30 lecture.

Mr Jacobs will speak about how racism, 9/11, current “rage talk” media, and deceptive politics have driven wedges between people and how to reclaim common ground to gain things everyone wants, all of which are themes in his book. A book signing will follow, and the event is co-hosted by Rainy Faye Bookstore.

The art center will offer another screening on Sunday, February 17, at 3 pm. A film produced by Ken Burns, Unforgivable Blackness shows how, despite the odds, Jack Johnson rose through the professional ranks to become the first African American to earn the title Heavyweight Champion of the World in 1908.

A panel discussion, “Black Power: Now & Then,” will take place on Friday, February 22, beginning at 7:30 pm. Panelists, including former members of the Black Panther Party, will discuss the history of the movement and how the Black Power Movement of the 60s helped change America forever.

Panelists will include Craig Kelly, musician James Moss, and youth counselor Kenny Jackson.

Then on Sunday, February 24, at 3 pm, the final screenings of the month will feature two films: Fatal Flood and Celebrating Bird: The Triumph of Charlie Parker. The first is a documentary about the devastating Mississippi River flood of 1927 and its impact on race relations in the South. The second film follows the life of Charlie Parker, who rose from the ranks of working jazz musicians to become one of the architects of bebop.

Black Rock Art Center is at 2838 Fairfield Avenue in Bridgeport. Additional information is available by calling 203-367-7917 or visiting BlackRockArtCenter.org. In addition to when programs are presented, the gallery is open Monday through Friday from 1 to 5 pm and also by appointment.