Dear readers,
Minority underrepresentation is a sad truth. It rears its head in corporate board rooms, government leadership positions, schools, the media — almost anywhere you can imagine. It’s also there in the work represented in museums. A study published last year by Williams College researchers scraping the public online catalogs of 18 major U.S. museums revealed that, of the artwork displayed in those museums, 85.4% was produced by white artists and only 1.2% was made by black artists.
The Mead Museum at Amherst College, in partnership with some students in the Five Colleges, have an event this week that acknowledges that statistic, as well as celebrates the work of black artists: Black Art Matters. Pulling together artwork from black students and community members, and combining it with other exhibitions of more well-known African American artists, the event seeks to embody its title and prove that African American work deserves more representation than it is given in museums today.
As demoralizing as such a statistic can be, especially for a young person in college, events such as Black Art Matters can be uplifting and inspiring, as event organizer Eboni Rafus-Brenning told writer Sammy Croteau in this week’s cover story. She said: “I feel like programs like Black Art Matters can be so empowering and can help give students the tools and reinforcement, and the fuel, to continue to do the work and be resilient.”
The way she characterizes what is needed — doing the work, and being resilient — are things that good art can inspire in us. There is injustice in the world, one example of which is the uneven representation for black artists in major museums. Black Art Matters draws attention to that. But as Amherst College senior Sade Green, who will serve as MC for the event, told Croteau, she will be focusing on the happiness in work by black artists, as well. “Black art is allowed to be rooted in joy,” she said.
— Dave Eisenstadter