Luminosity: A Detroit Arts Gathering
Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History
315 E. Warren Ave., Detroit
Through March 31, 2026
Being African American can be as joyous as it can torturous. There is magic in our hair, ancestral knowledge in our food, and defiance in our smiles. And don’t let it be Black Detroiters. We’re quick to rep Detroit, Eastside or Westside. There’s kinship in our “What up doe.” We have a shared sense of pride in the music, culture, and art that our city not only gifted to the world, but that has held and nurtured us like a loving parent.
But there’s also a shared trauma that lives in our bones. Regardless of our personal stories, we have to contend with the ways in which colonialism has permeated our lives. Luminosity: A Detroit Arts Gathering at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History gives us a chance to explore all of the above. The exhibit celebrates the Wright Museum’s 60th anniversary with 60 works from more than 30 Detroit artists.
“I wanted everyone to see the show and feel like Detroit is shimmering. It’s like a treasure house,” guest curator Vera Ingrid Grant says about the show.
While Grant says there is no theme other than the common link to Detroit, the show is separated into two galleries — daylight and nightlight.
In the daylight gallery, we see Oshun Williams’s floral paintings of his daughters, Keto Green’s upcycled assemblages, joyful photography from Rashuan Rucker, Ricky Weaver, and Elonte Davis and more. The room is bright, with lots of smiles, families, flowers, texture, and color.
Across the hall, the nightlight gallery is a bit more somber.
“The artists are dreaming in Afrofuturism and surrealism, talking about the anxiety and the alienation of living in this nation as African Americans,” Grant says about the nightlight gallery. “They’re also talking about their strategies… of healing and of faith.”
Here you’ll find Glanton Dowell’s untitled piece of three men being lynched and Harold Neal’s painting of four-year-old Tanya Blanding, who was “mistakenly” shot by the National Guard during the 1967 Rebellion, lifeless in her mother’s arms. Gregory Johnson and Nzinga LeJune present work about the Flint Water Crisis, reminding us not to forget. It isn’t all as solemn, however. Some of the work provides moments of introspection like Bakpak Durden’s “Ka” piece with 22 miniature paintings symbolizing the bones in the human skull, Austen Brantley’s sculptures, and Akea Brionne’s lucid dreaming work.
What’s spectacular about this show is that both Detroit’s contemporary and legendary artists — some of whom are no longer with us — are represented. Younger generations like Jennifer Maples and Jonathan Harris are alongside Black Arts Movement greats like Harold Neal, Allie McGhee, Shirley Woodson, and Glanton Dowdell. Metalworks by Cledie Taylor circa 1996 sit across from photographs by Darryl DeAngelo Terrell taken in 2023.
“I want the masters to be with the new artists. It isn’t new vs. old,” Grant says. “It’s all these artists are giving us their gifts for the Wright’s birthday and showing that it’s possible to make a living as an artist in Detroit. I salute them for that.”
Beyond being an excellent survey of Detroit art, Luminosity reminds us that both dark and light are part of the human experience and not to dwell on either. They both need recognition, for without the night we would not appreciate the daylight. And no matter how many clouds waft in front of the moon, its luminosity will always permeate the night.
Luminosity: A Detroit Arts Gathering is on view at the Charles H. Wright Museum; 315 E. Warren Ave., Detroit; thewright.org. Show runs through March 31, 2026.
This review was published in partnership with Detroit Metro Times.
