Stay Black & Die

Curated by Jordan Carey

Kyle b. co., *Queer in the B(l)ack 3 (2019)*

October 6 - November 26, 2022

About The Show

“I dont have to do nothing but stay black and die” is a mid-20th-century Black American phrase. The original implication is that death and blackness were the only two things that one is required to confront in life. Since then, we have seen a few other versions of this phrase, with expressions like “Stay Black.” This 1960s version is more about encouraging psychological blackness than reconciling physical blackness. The phrase “Stay Black” implies that blackness is a more whole place for black people than defaulting to eurocentrism. With this framework, these artists were brought together to highlight their relationship to affinity and ephemerality.

- Jordan Carey

Featured Artists:

Aminata Conteh, Daniel Minter, Reggie Burrows Hodges, Jordan Carey, Jayde Gibbons, Anastasia Warren, Kyle B. co, Séan Alonzo Harris, and David Driskell.

Featured Artists

Featured

Jordan Carey

Jordan Carey is a Bermudian designer and artist based in Portland, Maine. As a MECA&D student, Jordan's work was predominantly focused on the cultural aesthetics and influences present and changing in the African diaspora and island life.

Anastasia Warren

Anastasia Warren is an interdisciplinary artist. Using ceramics, electronic media, performance, and writing, they are developing methods for existing across body paradox.

Kyle b. co.

Kyle b. co. (they/them/y’all) is a trans-disciplinary artist, performer, educator and baker. Their work explores collage making through practices of printmaking, sculpture, installation, poetry, dance and set design.

Aminata Conteh

Aminata Conteh is a Metalsmith whose practice draws inspiration from the intersections that exist between her lived experiences as a first generation American and her Sierra Leonean lineage.

Jayde Gibbons

Born and raised in Bermuda, Jayde’s love for the arts and photography developed early thanks to the close proximity she had to artists as a child.

Reggie Burrows Hodges

Reggie Burrows Hodges is a painter whose works explore storytelling and visual metaphor.

David Driskell

Highly regarded as an artist, scholar and curator, David Driskell was one of the world’s leading authorities on African American Art.

Daniel Minter

Daniel Minter, known for his work in the mediums of painting and assemblage, often deals with themes of displacement and diaspora, ordinary/extraordinary blackness; spirituality in the Afro-Atlantic world; and the (re)creation of meanings of home.

Séan Alonzo Harris

Sean Alonzo Harris’ work is marked by a fine art sensibility and an emphasis on environmental portraits. An authentic connection to his subjects movingly and beautifully shines through in his work.