• In Town — Los Angeles and environs

Join us for the Opening Reception of 𝑩𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒊𝒏 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆 on Saturday, January 25th from 2-4pm in the gallery at Angels Gate Cultural Center (AGCC). This free, public event will include a performance of 𝐴𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑙 𝐿𝑖𝑏𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 by Adeola Davies-Aiyeloja.

𝑩𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒊𝒏 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆 is a holding space for invocation, re-memory, and unbridled Black expression. Remedying erasure that historically fueled what esteemed African-American collectors Bernard and Shirley Kinsey refer to as the “myth of absence,” artworks in this exhibition dispel the notion that what is unseen does not exist. The paradox of existing while being rendered invisible is an ongoing reality for the Black Diaspora, particularly in the West. This exhibition interrogates the living contradictions of existing while Black, invocates ancestral and indigenous wisdom, and explores how Black artists cultivate dreaming through making.

The artists presented are Leslie Adkins, Adeola Davies-Aiyeloja, Denise ‘deLaSNP’ Coke, Dea Jenkins, Steven A. Johnson II, Denese King-Ashley, Kandy G. Lopez, Rosalyn Myles, Cheyann Washington, and Fallon Williams. Their art practices reflect journeys of cultural enunciation and recontextualization of Black expression, particularly in white-dominated spaces. Through audio, portraiture, painting, digital/Augmented Reality, fiber art, poetry, drawing, and installation, the artworks engage hidden narratives, ancestral wisdom and unbridled expression to both sow and assert Black existence.

𝑩𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒊𝒏 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆 will be on view in the gallery through March 29, 2025, with free public visiting hours Thursdays through Saturdays, from 10am to 5pm.

This exhibition is supported by the California Natural Resources Agency for the Museum Grant Program under the California Cultural and Historical Endowment, the Department of Cultural Affairs, City of Los Angeles, and the Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture.

Please note that pets are not allowed inside our buildings. For questions, please email gallery@angelsgateart.org.

More information about AGCC is available at angelsgateart.org

Image: Denise ‘deLaSNP’ Coke, Bodega (Just Another Day), 2022. Digital print with augmented reality capabilities.