The Great Reunion
Shell Gallery Arts Council of Greater Baton Rouge
Baton Rouge
Through Feb. 21
Between 1910 and 1970, an estimated six million Black Americans left the South to pursue opportunities in urban areas in the North and Western parts of the U.S. The impact was undeniable. The Great Migration catalyzed the Harlem Renaissance, increased political activism that fed directly into the Civil Rights Movement and changed the landscape of America. According to History.com, nine of 10 Black Americans lived in the South in 1900; by 1970, only half of the country’s Black population was still living there.
“The Great Reunion” exhibit at the Shell Gallery looks back at this history from a contemporary lens. The exhibit is a multi-city series in its inaugural year and hopes to bring communities back together again. This year, they’re focusing up the Mississippi River to Chicago. Many families with roots in Baton Rouge that moved during the Great Migration moved there including featured artist Andre Guichard who is based there to this day.
The exhibit highlights the work of Baton Rouge artists such as Keith “Cartoon Man” Douglas, Brandon Lewis, Ashli Ognelodh Curry and Bryson Boutte in conversation with other artists impacted by the Great Migration. It was curated by local artist Mike Weary.
The exhibit is curated well. The pieces sing together and seem to bounce energy off of each other. One of Guichard’s pieces depicts a jazz band. Next to it, “A Seat in The Sound” (by Brandon Lewis) depicts a man playing the saxophone while sitting in a chair. It sits behind an actual chair (by Ashli Ognelodh Curry) which, while much more ornate, has the same silhouette. On the other side of the wall, “John” by Weary depicts a man playing the trumpet. While aesthetically distinct, the pieces seem to be in conversation with each other in terms of color because of the golden yellow hues used consistently throughout the exhibit. It’s like the pieces were made to sit together.
The most striking part of the exhibit are the books that are placed on pedestals throughout the exhibit next to the art along with curation notes. From “Art on My Mind: visual politics” by bell hooks to Isabel Wilkerson’s “The Warmth of Other Suns” to a “Jim Crow Guide to the U.S.A.” these books provide a jumping off point for learning more and make a powerful statement about literature as being in conversation with art as well as art in its own right.
The story of the Great Migration is told through art and reunited by it, but it’s also told by the writers, activists, historians and journalists who documented it. This feels especially poignant in the current political situation with book bans and library challenges across the country making access to history more difficult. In fact, Isabel Wilkerson’s 2020 book “Caste: the origins of our discontents” was banned and removed from library shelves in nearby Texas in 2022.
“The Great Reunion” is indeed a reunion, but it’s more than that. The exhibit is chance for people to come together for the first time too.
