Virtual Museum Stroll with Bryan Stevenson and Roxane Gay
We are thinking of you in this strange moment, as routines pause and we adjust to living in a new way for the health of communities across the world. More than ever, art can offer inspiration, beauty, and solace. While the Museum is closed, we’ll be sharing a selection of content highlights each week.
I read the above in a COVID-related email from the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) and was intrigued to discover what they were sharing online while the museum is offline. I clicked on the “Bryan Stevenson on Jacob Lawrence” link and was taken to this video:
I visited the Legacy Museum and the National Memorial for Peace and Justice in the fall last year, so it felt special to hear Bryan Stevenson walk through The Migration Series (1940–41). Jacob Lawrence’s 60-panel series of paintings tell the story of the mass exodus of millions of black Americans from the South towards the North and West after World War I.
When I visited Montgomery with a group of colleagues, many shared how they never learned about the Great Migration in school. I remembered the phrase from my history classes but it felt like more of a footnote, receiving far less attention in proportion to the magnitude of the time and terror.
I’m reminded of other times Stevenson has emphasized the power of storytelling. The black American experience has been defined by both pain and joy and you can see those stories in the art.
The video is part of a radio program from MoMA and BBC where “30 luminaries to share their perspective on an artwork that they love.” After watching Bryan Stevenson, I viewed Roxane Gay’s feature.
I’ve seen this 16'x11' drawing, Kara Walker’s Christ’s Entry into Journalism, in person and before that, her sugar sphinx in an old Domino Sugar factory. I’ve experienced the physical and emotional space of her artwork.
Roxane Gay observes how African American history is captured within the canvas and is overwhelming, “in the same way it is overwhelming to understand history as a whole.” You must start at the individual stories to zoom out and understand the bigger picture.
While not in the physical presence of these great minds and masterpieces, I feel moved by the experience and moved to go deeper.
This post is part of my WriteMarch series, a commitment to write daily for a month.
