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S. Ross Browne’s “In Defiance of Caste” is on view as part of “Bodies of Labor: Hands That Built a Nation,” at the Black History Museum & Cultural Center of Virginia through Dec. 16.
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“When I see an art show, the first thing I do is walk around and look at each piece,” says artist Vashti Woods. “I want to look at everything in detail, but time doesn’t allow. The artists will tell me which one I need to go back to — the piece will apprehend you.”
Woods is observing the multimedia works on display at the Black History Museum & Cultural Center of Virginia as part of the “Bodies of Labor: Hands That Built a Nation” exhibition, open through Dec. 16. She says, “There are a lot of pieces like that here, I’m telling you.”
Four featured artists, including Helen Butler, Pedro Ledesma III, Jay Sharpe and Maurice Wilson, spoke at a special presentation at the museum in early August. Woods and an additional four creatives are scheduled to speak Oct. 11.
From graphite drawings and stucco sculptures to oil paintings and photographs, each artist engages with the story of labor — and its interplay with the history of African Americans in the United States — in a unique way.
“I liked learning about the personal element of all the different artists, how they’re able to bring in their background and lived experience,” says Genet Gebrezgiabher, a featured artist within the exhibition who attended the August event. Her painting, titled “The Road Less Traveled,” depicts her Ethiopian father. “When you’re painting, you can’t escape your thoughts,” she says. “You have to confront everything that you’ve seen.”
One of the most striking displays within “Bodies of Labor” is a chiaroscuro photograph, taken by Ledesma, of Julian Greene Jr., the historian at First Baptist Church in Petersburg. At 40 by 60 inches, it dominates a full corner of the first room within the exhibition, placed inside an ornate Renaissance-style frame. “Can’t you feel that he’s about to say something to you?” Woods says as she gazes up at the piece.
According to Ledesma, the presentation is intentional. “When people come into my studio, just by the size of these, they say, ‘Should I know about this person?’” Ledesma says. “I want to give these everyday people, who are putting their labor into the community, a space of reverence.”
Butler’s piece, “The Alchemist,” is a quilt depicting a laboring free Black washerwoman in the antebellum era. Butler says that the research portion of her creative process often takes months, and that’s before she even makes her first stitch. Her numerous fiber arts are all a labor of love. “Keeping the heart open during the creative process is an important quality in any artist,” Butler says. “In order to invest time and energy, there has to be a deep love.”
Though many pieces within “Bodies of Labor” deal with unfair working conditions and slavery, the exhibition is also tinged with hope. Woods’ painting, “Forge On,” depicts the body of a Black man bowing his head, the scars of slavery on his back replaced by the faces of African Americans who have achieved great things through labor in the postbellum world.
“His head is bowed, not in submission to slavery, but to Almighty God,” Woods says. “He wore the whelps of the future that would come forth from him — the future of all these accomplishments.”
“Bodies of Labor: Hands That Built a Nation” is on display at the Black History Museum & Cultural Center of Virginia through Dec. 16. The exhibition is included with museum admission ($6 to $10).
