Join us as we celebrate the opening of this landmark exhibition with a series of critical conversations, and celebrations focused on the themes of family, ancestry, land, and self-determination.
Friday, April 8
Evening Conversation: Storytelling and the Making of an Exhibition
5 PM bar and hors d’oeuvres
6 PM program begins
There is no single story of the Great Migration, as is evident in the incredibly unique work produced by the artists in the exhibition. The very starting point for A Movement in Every Direction is one that is deeply personal and that requires a different approach, kind of collaboration, and level of care in bringing it to fruition. Join us for a conversation with our curators and several artists on materiality, storytelling, and the making of an exhibition.
Welcome remarks by:
Betsy Bradley, Director, Mississippi Museum of Art
Chris Bedford, Director, Baltimore Museum of Art
Introductory remarks by:
Ryan N. Dennis, Chief Curator and Artistic Director of CAPE, Mississippi Museum of Art
Jessica Bell Brown, Associate Curator of Contemporary Art, Baltimore Museum of Art
Featuring:
Dr. Ebony Lumumba, first lady of Jackson, chair and associate professor of English, Jackson State University
Robert Pruitt, artist
Zoë Charlton, artist
7:30 PM Theaster Gates Jr and The Black Monks
Join us in the galleries for a performative response to A Movement in Every Direction by Theaster Gates Jr and The Black Monks. This event is sponsored by Downtown Jackson Partners and Mississippi Arts Commission.
Friday night events are for MMA Members only. To become a Member, CLICK HERE.
If you are already a Member, you can register for this event HERE.
Saturday, April 9
Opening Day, 10 AM – 6 PM
Free admission courtesy of Ross & Yerger.
11 AM Morning Conversation: Memory and Ancestry within and without the Archive
The archive is often a starting point for research, whether it be to piece together a memory, an ancestral tie, or a history. Historical archives, however, are often deeply flawed, shaped by those who possess the power to build collections and to determine what is worthy of collecting. As Saidiya Hartman remarks in her groundbreaking book, Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments, “Every historian of the multitude, the dispossessed, the subaltern, and the enslaved is forced to grapple with the power and authority of the archive and the limits it sets on what can be known, whose perspective matters, and who is endowed with the gravity and authority of historical actor.” Join us for a conversation with scholars and artists who account for both the formal and informal archival presences and absences in their work and consider how they incorporate the “archive” into their creative process.
Grounding:
Tufara Waller Muhammad, artist, cultural organizer
Opening remarks:
Katie Blount, Director, Mississippi Department of Archives and History
Featuring:
Saidiya Hartman, author
Savannah Wood, artist and Executive Director of Afro Charities
Carrie Mae Weems, artist
Akea Brionne, artist
12:15 PM Close Looking in the Galleries
This is an opportunity to gather and to spend dedicated time in front of a single work of art on display in A Movement in Every Direction. Led by the Mississippi Museum of Art’s Teaching Fellows.
3 PM An Unfinished Movement: A Look at the Contemporary Legacies of the Great Migration
The Great Migration as a movement was not catalyzed by a single event, nor should it be marked by a singular understanding as an exodus out of one place to that of another. The decisions to stay or to go or to return were prompted by a host of reasons and acts of resilience, big and small, the reverberations of which continue to be felt in the very fabric of contemporary American life. Join us for a conversation about the lasting economic, social, and cultural legacies of the Great Migration, a movement that is unfinished.
Opening remarks:
Ryan N. Dennis, chief curator and artistic director of CAPE, Mississippi Museum of Art
Jessica Bell Brown, associate curator of contemporary art, Baltimore Museum of Art
Featuring:
Darren Walker, President, Ford Foundation
Mark Bradford, artist
Events are free but registration is required. Please confirm your attendance HERE.
5 PM Opening Soiree
Please join Mississippi’s own Robin Roberts, First Lady of Mississippi Elee Reeves, and First Lady of Jackson Dr. Ebony Lumumba, honorary chairs at a soiree celebrating A Movement in Every Direction: Legacies of the Great Migration. This event is sponsored by Butler Snow.
Please confirm your attendance HERE.
7:30 PM Bravo V – Distinctively All-American: A Symphonic Performance to Celebrate the Opening of A Movement in Every Direction
The Mississippi Symphony Orchestra presents African American composer Florence Price’s Piano Concerto in One Movement, brought to vivid life by young guest pianist Zhu Wang, at this second concert celebrating southern artists, this time in celebration of the Mississippi Museum of Art’s exhibition opening of A Movement in Every Direction: Legacies of the Great Migration. Bernstein’s dance episodes from On the Town, Gershwin’s I Got Rhythm Variations, and Copland’s marvelous and beloved Appalachian Spring complete this extraordinary all-American evening.
Thalia Mara Hall
For more information about this performance, visit https://msorchestra.com/event/bravo-v-distinctively-all-american-5/.
Sunday, April 10
noon – 6 PM Free admission
