Between The Hawk and The Buzzard: New Sculptural Works by Nafis M. White

Between The Hawk and The Buzzard: New Sculptural Works by Nafis M. White in Collaboration with the Rhode Island State Archives August 19, 2020 – October 13, 2020 Opening Reception Cancelled due to COVID-19 Emergency EXHIBITION STATEMENT: In her “Ain’t I A Woman” speech ......More

Between The Hawk and The Buzzard: New Sculptural Works by Nafis M. White in Collaboration with the Rhode Island State Archives August 19, 2020 – October 13, 2020 Opening Reception Cancelled due to COVID-19 Emergency EXHIBITION STATEMENT: In her “Ain’t I A Woman” speech published by Marius Robinson on June 21, 1851 in the Salem Anti-Slavery Bugle, Sojourner Truth said that, “the women are coming up, blessed be God, and a few of the men are coming up with them.” Truth spoke passionately about women’s rights and advocated for Black women to be a vocal and visible part of the massive national movement for women’s suffrage. She also had her words rewritten and sanitized by Francis Gage, a white suffragette invested in making Truth seem less intelligent and, thus, more palatable to whites. White women in the movement denigrated the contributions of Black suffragettes by demanding they go to the back of the 1913 Women’s Suffrage Procession in Washington DC but prominent Black leaders like Ida B. Wells-Barnett refused to be segregated. In Rhode Island, suffragettes Mary E. Jackson and Bertha Higgins, like Wells-Barnett, championed the rights of Black women and challenged attempts to render their organizing efforts and bodies invisible in the struggle. The 19th Amendment gave women the right to vote, but its passage did not confer equal access to African American, Latinx, Asian and Indigenous women – for all intents and purposes non-white women were still disenfranchised. The current COVID 19-era presidential election, perhaps the most consequential in a generation, is about to transpire and Black women, Black men and communities of color are still facing unprecedented voter suppression efforts. Honoring the centennial celebration of women’s suffrage without attending to their stories risks leaving out immense troves of historical data. Nafis M. White activates the Rhode Island State Archives to create work that honors the centennial by discovering who these powerful women activists were, and are. In accessing and making public these records, her work empowers viewers to bear witness to a political process that has great significance for every resident of this state and country today.

100 Years of “Delusions and Half Truths”: New Mixed Media Works by Becci Davis

100 Years of “Delusions and Half Truths”: New Mixed Media Works by Becci Davis in Collaboration with the Rhode Island State Archives August 19, 2020 – October 13, 2020 Opening Reception Cancelled due to COVID-19 Emergency EXHIBITION STATEMENT: Using resonant artifacts f......More

100 Years of “Delusions and Half Truths”: New Mixed Media Works by Becci Davis in Collaboration with the Rhode Island State Archives August 19, 2020 – October 13, 2020 Opening Reception Cancelled due to COVID-19 Emergency EXHIBITION STATEMENT: Using resonant artifacts from the Rhode Island State Archives, Becci Davis’ topographical palimpsests question widely-circulated narratives about women’s suffrage, exposing the complex questions of race often left out of them. Her mixed media sculptures are not only rooted in intersectional feminism and attend to the many ways Black women experienced structural and ideological barriers to suffrage differently than white women, they also interrogate the specifics of place, and the power of locality. Mapping a series of charged spaces that are as important as the people whose activism took shape in them, Davis’ speculative cartographies offer new paths through the 100-year-old story of women’s suffrage in Rhode Island.

Between The Hawk and The Buzzard: New Sculptural Works by Nafis M. White

Between The Hawk and The Buzzard: New Sculptural Works by Nafis M. White in Collaboration with the Rhode Island State Archives August 19, 2020 – October 13, 2020 Opening Reception Cancelled due to COVID-19 Emergency EXHIBITION STATEMENT: In her “Ain’t I A Woman” speech ......More

Between The Hawk and The Buzzard: New Sculptural Works by Nafis M. White in Collaboration with the Rhode Island State Archives August 19, 2020 – October 13, 2020 Opening Reception Cancelled due to COVID-19 Emergency EXHIBITION STATEMENT: In her “Ain’t I A Woman” speech published by Marius Robinson on June 21, 1851 in the Salem Anti-Slavery Bugle, Sojourner Truth said that, “the women are coming up, blessed be God, and a few of the men are coming up with them.” Truth spoke passionately about women’s rights and advocated for Black women to be a vocal and visible part of the massive national movement for women’s suffrage. She also had her words rewritten and sanitized by Francis Gage, a white suffragette invested in making Truth seem less intelligent and, thus, more palatable to whites. White women in the movement denigrated the contributions of Black suffragettes by demanding they go to the back of the 1913 Women’s Suffrage Procession in Washington DC but prominent Black leaders like Ida B. Wells-Barnett refused to be segregated. In Rhode Island, suffragettes Mary E. Jackson and Bertha Higgins, like Wells-Barnett, championed the rights of Black women and challenged attempts to render their organizing efforts and bodies invisible in the struggle. The 19th Amendment gave women the right to vote, but its passage did not confer equal access to African American, Latinx, Asian and Indigenous women – for all intents and purposes non-white women were still disenfranchised. The current COVID 19-era presidential election, perhaps the most consequential in a generation, is about to transpire and Black women, Black men and communities of color are still facing unprecedented voter suppression efforts. Honoring the centennial celebration of women’s suffrage without attending to their stories risks leaving out immense troves of historical data. Nafis M. White activates the Rhode Island State Archives to create work that honors the centennial by discovering who these powerful women activists were, and are. In accessing and making public these records, her work empowers viewers to bear witness to a political process that has great significance for every resident of this state and country today.

100 Years of “Delusions and Half Truths”: New Mixed Media Works by Becci Davis

100 Years of “Delusions and Half Truths”: New Mixed Media Works by Becci Davis in Collaboration with the Rhode Island State Archives August 19, 2020 – October 13, 2020 Opening Reception Cancelled due to COVID-19 Emergency EXHIBITION STATEMENT: Using resonant artifacts f......More

100 Years of “Delusions and Half Truths”: New Mixed Media Works by Becci Davis in Collaboration with the Rhode Island State Archives August 19, 2020 – October 13, 2020 Opening Reception Cancelled due to COVID-19 Emergency EXHIBITION STATEMENT: Using resonant artifacts from the Rhode Island State Archives, Becci Davis’ topographical palimpsests question widely-circulated narratives about women’s suffrage, exposing the complex questions of race often left out of them. Her mixed media sculptures are not only rooted in intersectional feminism and attend to the many ways Black women experienced structural and ideological barriers to suffrage differently than white women, they also interrogate the specifics of place, and the power of locality. Mapping a series of charged spaces that are as important as the people whose activism took shape in them, Davis’ speculative cartographies offer new paths through the 100-year-old story of women’s suffrage in Rhode Island.

Creative Providence Planning Studio: Creative Economic Development

Since 2009 the Creative Providence cultural plan has served as a dynamic blueprint for strengthening the creative sector and as a community-wide guide to public policy, public initiatives and private investments in the arts. Now, ACT and creative partners are reassessin......More

Since 2009 the Creative Providence cultural plan has served as a dynamic blueprint for strengthening the creative sector and as a community-wide guide to public policy, public initiatives and private investments in the arts. Now, ACT and creative partners are reassessing our sector’s goals and strategies with plans to release the second Cultural Plan in spring 2021. On October 13 join The Steel Yard from 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM for a conversation that looks at creatives through the lens of employers and jobs in the for-profit and nonprofit creative industries. Register here: https://artculturetourism.com/mix-it-up/ ACT will send meeting log-in info 48 hours in advance of the session. —— Dale Sabor Al nuevo plan cultural de Providence Desde 2009, el plan cultural Creative Providence ha servido como un modelo dinámico para fortalecer el sector creativo y como una guía comunitaria para las políticas públicas, iniciativas públicas e inversiones privadas en las artes. Ahora, ACT y los socios creativos están reevaluando los objetivos y estrategias de nuestro sector con planes para lanzar el segundo Plan Cultural en la primavera de 2021. En el 13 de Octubre Únase a The Steel Yard a las 2:00 hasta las 4:00PM para una conversación que analiza a los creativos a través de la lente de los empleadores y los trabajos en las industrias creativas, ambos empresas y en organizaciones sin lucro. Haga clic aquí para registrarse: https://artculturetourism.com/mix-it-up/ Les mandaremos las claves de iniciar la sesión 48 horas adelante.

Online Event

Creative Providence Planning Studio: Art and Well-being

Since 2009 the Creative Providence cultural plan has served as a dynamic blueprint for strengthening the creative sector and as a community-wide guide to public policy, public initiatives and private investments in the arts. Now, ACT and creative partners are reassessin......More

Since 2009 the Creative Providence cultural plan has served as a dynamic blueprint for strengthening the creative sector and as a community-wide guide to public policy, public initiatives and private investments in the arts. Now, ACT and creative partners are reassessing our sector’s goals and strategies with plans to release the second Cultural Plan in spring 2021. On October 14 join Rhode Island Black Storytellers from 1 PM to 3 PM for a conversation inspired by the work of Providence artists already working at the intersection of arts, health, and climate justice. Register here: https://artculturetourism.com/mix-it-up/ ACT will send meeting log-in info 48 hours in advance of the session. —- Dale Sabor Al nuevo plan cultural de Providence Desde 2009, el plan cultural Creative Providence ha servido como un modelo dinámico para fortalecer el sector creativo y como una guía comunitaria para las políticas públicas, iniciativas públicas e inversiones privadas en las artes. Ahora, ACT y los socios creativos están reevaluando los objetivos y estrategias de nuestro sector con planes para lanzar el segundo Plan Cultural en la primavera de 2021. En el 14 de octubre a las 1 hasta las 3PM Únase a Rhode Island Black Storytellers para una conversación inspirada en el trabajo de artistas de Providence que ya trabajan en la intersección de las artes, la salud y la justicia climática. Haga clic aquí para registrarse: https://artculturetourism.com/mix-it-up/ Les mandaremos las claves de iniciar la sesión 48 horas adelante.

Online Event