Installation in one of MMA’s Gardens holds space for Black Southerners to honor and reckon with grief.
Jackson, MS… Mississippi Museum of Art’s (MMA) Center for Art and Public Exchange (CAPE) unveiled the exhibition How We Get Over: We Grow On from 2023 national artists-in-residence Sarah Jené and Jasmine Williams. On display through September 3, 2023, We Grow On is an outdoor installation that reminds us we don’t get rid of grief: we grow through it.
This exhibition invites audiences into MMA’s gardens to settle into difficult and variegated experiences and to find new experiences of softness, healing, and resilience. We Grow On uses naturally occurring plants, flowers, and other organic materials to create a meditative place to consider grief and how we continue to grow in the wake of those experiences. Included in the installation are a moss couch symbolizing a place of rest, respite, and recovery, a stained-glass installation, and signage with meditative quotes and works of art to aid in contemplation and remembrance. We Grow On is a place to express grief and help in the healing experience through the installation along with programming and events.
“There is an overwhelming amount of grief today in the Black Community. Our goal is to connect and create spaces for Black people to feel seen and celebrated,” stated both artists Sarah Jené and Jasmine Williams. “We are using various art forms to enlighten and embrace the Jackson community and highlight Black Culture.”
As part of this one-year residency program, the project will culminate in a printed guide composed and designed by Scalawag Magazine’s editorial team. The guide will include writing prompts for people designed to help process grief, embodiment exercises, meditative coloring pages, interviews with the curators, poetry, local grief resources and essays from the grief and love series that help people process personal collective grief. This guide will be available at Great Grief, an event at the Museum on the evening of August 23, local therapists’ offices, community practitioners, and businesses.
Mississippi Museum of Art CAPE Director Monique Davis said, “Grief is vast, and we’ve all lost something. Everyone’s grief is valid, and We Grow On is a space to feel through it. This installation and publication offer an intentional and safe space to grow.”
We Grow On is a free installation and is open to the public during daylight hours in the gardens of the Mississippi Museum of Art in Downtown Jackson.
The components of Sarah Jené and Jasmine’s residency project are as follows:
How We Get Over: We Grow On Installation
Outdoor installation in MMA’s gardens on view through August 12, 2023. We Grow On uses nature as a backdrop to connect with the cycle of grief and healing. Along with pieces by Sarah Jené and Jasmine Williams, the installation will also include: stain glass installation by Adrienne Domnick, moss couch created in collaboration with Anna Burnett
We Grow On Guide
Created in partnership with Scalawag Magazine, this guide will help readers on their own grief journey. Authors include:
- Shani Peters
- Amanda Furdge
- Adrienne Domnick
- Da’Shawn Harrison
- Kami Fletcher
- Sarah Hairston
- Jasmine Williams
- Alysia Nicole Harris
- Scalawag’s Condolences Guide
- Local Grief Resources
Press photography and captions are at this link: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/ncg2bqlkfkzw2so22sb0u/h?dl=0&rlkey=sedr5srv0lqx8y2of8q4ziwa3
About the Artists
Sarah Jené is an inspired multidisciplinary artist who uses visual art to highlight Black joy as resistance. She encapsulates the art of Blackness and the beauty of interpersonal relationships to reimagine and celebrate the Black experience. Sarah Jené does this through curated events and her art brand, Thee Black Card, digital and paper collage art. Whether it’s through an installation or conversation, her goal is to connect and create soft spaces for Black people to feel seen and celebrated. Sarah desires to use her various art-forms as a vehicle to enlighten and embrace her community by showcasing Black Culture.
Jasmine Williams is a writer, creative producer, and curator whose passion is creating programming and digital media to highlight the Southern Black experience. Using art as a tool to connect communities and share stories, her goal is to inspire everyday folks to see the art in their existence. Jasmine is the creator of ‘Sipp Talk Media, a digital platform that uses storytelling to shift the narrative of Mississippi, by centering Black experiences and culture. Exploring themes of language, food, history, art, and lifestyle, Jasmine is committed to the visibility of Black Southern stories and our creative legacy.
About The Center for Art & Public Exchange
CAPE is an initiative of the Mississippi Museum of Art in Jackson, supported by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and founding partners Luce Foundation, Southern Poverty Law Center, and Bradley. CAPE’s purpose is to use original artworks, exhibitions, programs, and engagements with artists to increase understanding and inspire new narratives around issues of race and equity in contemporary Mississippi. For more information, visit msmuseumart.org/cape/.
About CAPE’s Artist-in-Residency Programs
Once a year, CAPE invites artists to engage with communities in the Jackson, Mississippi, metro area. These residencies, made possible by the Mellon Foundation, explore legacies and issues that resonate both locally and nationally, and they use art as a lens to inspire dialogue, empower personal experiences, and connect the city across geographic boundaries. The resulting art installations, performances, and programs will be the products of collaboration between artists, makers, participants, and organizational partners. The Artist-in-Residence Program is supported by the Mellon Foundation. For more information, visit msmuseumart.org/artist-in-residence/.
About Scalawag Magazine
Through journalism and storytelling, Scalawag works in solidarity with oppressed communities in the South to disrupt and shift the narratives that keep power and wealth in the hands of the few. Collectively, we pursue a more liberated South. For more information, visit https://scalawagmagazine.org/about/.
About the Mississippi Museum of Art
Established in 1911, the Mississippi Museum of Art (MMA) is dedicated to connecting Mississippi to the world and the power of art to the power of community. The Museum’s permanent collection includes paintings, photography, multimedia works, and sculpture by Mississippi, American, and international artists. The largest art museum in the state, the Mississippi Museum of Art offers a vibrant roster of exhibitions, public programs, artistic and community partnerships, educational initiatives, and opportunities for exchange year-round. Programming is developed inclusively with community involvement to ensure that a diversity of voices and perspectives are represented. Located at 380 South Lamar Street in downtown Jackson, the Museum is committed to honesty, equity, and inclusion. The Mississippi Museum of Art and its programs are sponsored in part by the City of Jackson and Visit Jackson. Support is also provided in part by funding from the Mississippi Arts Commission, a state agency, and in part by the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency. For more information, visit msmuseumart.org.
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