Presenters:
Betsey Casañas, A Seed on the Diamond Gallery
Emily Carris, The Art Dept
Renny Molenaar & Rocio Cabello, Imperfect Gallery
Christopher Rogers, Paul Robeson House
Organized by:
The Colored Girls Museum
Vashti DuBois
Michael Clemmons
Ian Friday
At The Colored Girls Museum in Philadelphia, PA, convening attendees were given a tour of the museums current exhibition In Search of the Colored Girl. The tour was led by the museum's founder Vashti DuBois- this exhibition being their fourth since the founding of the museum in 2015. The current campaign and exhibition consider #MeToo, #MuteRKelly, the adultification of black girls, and the erasure of contributions of black women and girls from important movements and history.
The Colored Girls Museum is the first and only institution to document and celebrate the ordinary, extraordinary colored girl through art and artifacts significant to her experience. The tour ended with presentations from Betsey Casañas (A Seed on the Diamond Gallery), Emily Carris (The Art Dept), Renny Molenaar & Rocio Cabello (Imperfect Gallery), and Christopher Rogers (Paul Robeson House). Throughout the event were facilitated, small-group and full-group discussions beginning with two questions: How do we build communities intentionally that create a sanctuary for the artist and the work they create while at the same time addressing the issues and concerns that are impacting the communities that these art institutions reside in? What are the responsibilities of art organizers and institutions to the communities that they want more engagement from while those same communities are vulnerable to displacement in part because of the existence of those institutions?
We acknowledge the nearly 75,000 black and brown girls and women who are missing in this country