Jonathan ‘Skinny Dope’ Brown’s painting, ‘Human Jukebox,” is featured in the Southern University Visual Arts Gallery’s exhibit, ‘Lightworks.’
Keidrick Alford has a 360-degree view from his stance in the center of Southern University’s Visual Arts Gallery, allowing him to see a different story each time he turns his body.
That was the point of how he installed the gallery’s group exhibition, “Lightwork,” a collaboration between the gallery and Ellemnop.art art collective, co-founded by Alford and Elle Mouton. The show continues to Thursday, Nov. 19, in the gallery in Frank Hayden Hall.
“I actually don’t have a particular artwork in this show,” said Alford. “But I’m all over the space, because I view my art as just one of curation versus a single visual piece. We’re looking at the artwork, and we understand the story that an artist may be wanting to tell with their work, and we’re able to view other works from other artists and group them to create small pockets of stories.”
From left in the Southern University Visual Arts Gallery’s exhibit, ‘Lightworks,’ are Assistant Professor of Art John Alleyne, whose collage painting is featured in the background; gallery director Samantha Combs; show curator Keidrick Alford, co-founder of Ellemnop.art; and Professor of Art Randell Henry, who also has a piece in the show.
So though pieces by different artists tell individual stories, their groupings may align in conveying similar themes. And all of the subject matter here joins together to reflect the main theme of “Lightworks,” which, Gallery Director Samantha Combs explains, sheds light in a dark time.
“We wanted to ride the wave of our exhibit, ‘Free As They Want to Be,’ from this past summer and keep up the energy from that show,” Combs said.
A collaboration
The Visual Arts Gallery worked with Baton Rouge Gallery and the West Baton Rouge Museum in showing the traveling exhibit created by the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center for the 2022 FotoFocus Biennial. The three venues were open during the week and offered free bus transportation from one venue to the other on weekends between Aug. 1 and 23.
Look for Michael Weary’s painting, ‘One And The Same (Joy And Pain),’ in ‘Lightworks.’
“We had 800 visitors during that time, and it was the first time for a lot of them to visit our gallery,” Combs said. “And we had a solid chunk of people who turned out for the opening reception for this show.”
“Lightwork” features works by 26 artists, all curated by Alford. It also marks the first collaboration between Southern University and Ellemnop.art.
“We wanted to focus on generational artists,” Alford said. “So, we have work by artists in their teens and 20s all the way up to artwork by our senior saints.”
Included in the lineup of featured artists are Randell Henry, Malaika Favorite, Keith “Cartoon Man” Douglas and John Alleyne, assistant professor of art at the university.
Malaika Favorite’s painting, ‘Water,’ is featured in the Southern University Visual Arts Gallery’s exhibit, ‘Lightworks.’
“The show also features work by students and community artists, who are making a living from and an impact through their artwork,” Alford said. “So, the first criteria in choosing artists for this show was understanding who was making an impact and who was using their creative gifts to earn a living.”
A variety of genres
The show also features a variety of art categories, including music video, three-dimensional pieces, collage pieces and the written word.
“I wanted to add a literary piece that was about a monumental history point about this university that hopefully most individuals know,” Alford said. “But there may also be freshmen on campus who may not be aware of it.”
‘Lightworks’
Southern University’s collaborative group exhibition with Ellemnop.art
Through Nov. 19. Hours are 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Monday through Friday and by appointment after hours and weekends.
Visual Arts Gallery, Frank Hayden Hall, 8229 Elton C. Harrison Drive, Southern University campus
Free admission
Email samantha.combs@sus.edu or visit subr.edu/subhome/96.
The piece, a poem titled “Blood on the Bluff,” was penned by poet Donney Rose. It tells the story of two 20-year-old Southern students, Denver Smith and Leonard Douglas Brown, who were killed by East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff’s deputies during student boycotts on Nov. 16, 1972.
Now Alford takes a seat in the center of the gallery, his eyes zeroing in on one of the many stories told by his curation of the artworks. This particular story pairs paintings by Henry and Baton Rouge artist Michael Weary, known for incorporating rust into his works to symbolize decay and destruction.
Randell Henry’s painting, ‘Jailbirds,’ is part of the Southern University Visual Art Gallery’s exhibit, ‘Lightworks.’
“Mike’s use of rust in this painting symbolizes difficult times,” Alford said. “In the painting, you’ll see two children. The boy is his son, and the girl is his daughter, and you’ll see his daughter dancing, while his son holds up an umbrella toward the trauma, where the rust is. He is shielding his sister from the trauma.”
Meanwhile, Henry’s piece, “Jailbirds,” highlights activist Christina Swan’s work with the Innocence Project, which works to free wrongfully convicted men and women from prison.
“It’s a totally different artwork from Mike’s, but the wrongfully convicted parallels with the children in Mike’s painting, because the older brother knows there are dangers in the world, and the wrongfully convicted are experiencing it,” Alford said.
Though regular gallery hours are 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Monday through Friday, Combs said the gallery can be opened by appointment after hours and on weekends.
