Join us at the opening reception for Ali LeRoi: Everybody Hates Exhibitions for an exclusive look behind the scenes of the TV show Everybody Hates Chris.
FREE with RSVP
About the Show:
Two decades had passed since the semi-autobiographical show Everybody Hates Chris first aired; two decades since it profoundly shifted the histories of sitcoms and the representation of Black lives in popular culture. Marking the anniversary, this exhibition delves into the private archive of Ali LeRoi, co-creator, director, producer, and writer, discovering never-before-seen moments he captured with his single-lens reflex camera behind the scenes; moments that chronicle shifts between illusions, fantasies, and real-life experiences, the shaping of collective cultural memory, and personal negotiations around idealized family structures—moments that harbor joy, pain, guilt, longing, shame, and love. So much love.
The title of the show speaks to the need and desire to let go of any signs of performativity; to dwell in the messiness of family life, set life, creative life, and share them without hesitation.
Loosely based on comedian Chris Rock’s life, Everybody Hates Chris was pivotal for the shaping of a new era on the small screen, of TV shows that catered specifically to black audiences. Rock and LeRoi infused the plotlines and the character design with references to their own family units, sometimes unconsciously. LeRoi sometimes surprised himself, discovering personal memories or manifestations of his mother or other family members in the physical embodiment of the set. There is a double exposure of illusions in these images – as LeRoi captured the goings-on of life on set, of the creative family formed between and during takes, he exhumed and articulated illusions that harbor fragments of memory and fiction, embodied by the physical presence of actors. It’s a world within a world, layered and complex, present but almost never fully realized.
