The California African American Museum (CAAM) has announced the opening of its summer exhibitions in galleries that have recently undergone an upgrade. The exhibitions will open on August 5, and will feature an array of subject matters from the Great Migration to Black leisure in California.
To mark the reopening of the museum, CAAM will host a summer solstice program on June 21, 2023. This will mark the debut of #sky #nofilter: Hindsight for a Future America, a public sculpture and performance art project by conceptual artist Chloë Bass.
The commissioned sculpture takes the form of a participatory analemmatic sundial, and visitors will be able to engage with the sculpture by functioning as the gnomon, casting shadows on each of the sixteen blue glass panels to determine the time of day.
Meanwhile, CAAM Executive Director Cameron Shaw has expressed excitement about the upcoming exhibitions, which will offer visitors a deep, vibrant experience. One of the exhibitions, A Movement in Every Direction: Legacies of the Great Migration, explores the profound impact of the Great Migration on the social and cultural life of the United States from both historical and personal perspectives.
It features newly commissioned works across media by 12 acclaimed artists, including Mark Bradford, Torkwase Dyson, and Carrie Mae Weems. The exhibition will be co-organized by the Mississippi Museum of Art and the Baltimore Museum of Art, and it is co-curated by Ryan N. Dennis and Jessica Bell Brown.
Another exhibition, Black California Dreamin’: Claiming Space at America’s Leisure Frontier, highlights the critical importance of access to nature, recreation, and sites of relaxation for pursuing the full range of human experience, self-fulfillment, and dignity.
It features historical photographs and memorabilia along with contemporary artworks that illuminate the challenges faced by African Americans in shaping recreational sites and public spaces during the Jim Crow era. This exhibition is curated by Alison Rose Jefferson, an independent historian and author of “Living the California Dream: African American Leisure Sites during the Jim Crow Era.”
Lastly, “Keeping Time” is a short film by Darol Olu Kae, an artist and filmmaker born and based in South Los Angeles. It ruminates on the Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra (the Ark), an avant-garde jazz group from South Central LA, active since the 1960s. The film reflects on the group’s contributions to the community and the larger cultural landscape.
CAAM has been closed for several months due to the upgrade of its building, and its lobby will be closed from May 8, 2023, leading up to the reopening celebration in the evening of August 4, 2023. However, the museum will offer a slate of public programs outdoors this summer, including the summer solstice program and the debut of #sky #nofilter: Hindsight for a Future America.
The exhibitions promise to offer visitors a wide range of opportunities for expansive thinking about Black lives past, present, and future.
