Page 11 - Boca Club News - January '23

Boca Club News, Page 11
“Reginald Cunningham: Black Pearls” Photo Exhibit

At Boca Museum of Art Through January 22nd

The Boca Raton Museum He personally interviewed each video of the interviews. Interest in Pearl City has blossomed,
of Art is in the final week of his subjects thoroughly before and residents celebrate their community’s honored past. In
of its exhibition, Reginald their portrait sittings. Cunningham recognizing their own histories, they see a connection to the
Cunningham: Black Pearls, the has also captured the physical and broader struggle for equal rights. To many of these residents,
first-ever museum exhibition of ephemeral elements that make up holding on to their land is almost sacred. When it comes to
Cunningham’s work, curated by the community, preserving the this community’s connection to its history, it is clear that some
Kelli Bodle, Assistant Curator. stories of generations. things simply are not for sale.
The Museum has commissioned Cunningham for this new These works by Reginald Additional Exhibits at the Museum
series of photographs to honor the nearby historically Black Cunningham have now entered the Currently on view, on the entire first floor: The monumental
neighborhood of Pearl City, celebrated as one of the earliest and Museum’s collection. This is most definitely a project born in the world premiere of Art of the Hollywood Backdrop (through
longest lasting African American neighborhoods in Florida. community, that serves to create a record for future generations,” January 22nd).
“The Pearl City residents are our museum’s closest neighbors, adds Lippman. Founded in 1915, Pearl City predated the Coming in February: The U.S. premiere of Whitfield Lovell:
located only two blocks away, and we want to celebrate our incorporation of the surrounding City of Boca Raton by a decade. Passages (February 15th--May 21st) The six-city tour of this
neighbors with this exhibition,” says Irvin Lippman, the “This is one of South Florida’s oldest neighborhoods, and the major exhibition kicks off at the Boca Raton Museum of Art.
Executive Director of the Boca Raton Museum of Art. only historically Black community in Boca Raton,” says Dr. Organized by the American Federation of Arts in collaboration
Cunningham is a photographer and influencer whose work Candace Cunningham. “More than a century ago, a land auction with Whitfield Lovel. The most comprehensive exhibition to date
focuses on urban style and portraiture. His editorial/activist was held and African Americans purchased thirty lots that day of the contemporary artist’s masterful conté crayon drawings,
lens, and his images of concerts, fashion icons, performers and to create Pearl City. Yet, as was often the case in the segregated assemblages, and multi-sensory installations that focus on aspects
thought leaders, are at the forefront of contemporary photography. South, their opportunities paled in comparison to those presented of African American history while raising universal questions
“Through the lens of my photography I’m always trying to create to White Americans, who also purchased land at two other Boca about identity, memory, and America’s collective heritage.
affinity for and uplift Black people and the Black experience in this Raton land auctions that day and they got larger lots for less Major Renovations of the Museum’s Collection Galleries, the
country,” says Cunningham. “Being commissioned by the Boca money. Rooted in Pearl City’s creation were socioeconomic Ohnell Sculpture Garden, and Recent Acquisitions Premiering
Raton Museum of Art to photograph the residents and cultural disparities its residents continue to fight today. Those disparities this Season: Premiering this new season are the Museum’s major
emblems of Pearl City—one of the South’s most beloved and pushed African Americans out of Georgia and the Carolinas and renovations to the collection galleries, with support from Pat
enduring Black districts—is an amazing experience.” During pulled them into southern Florida. It was by no means the land and Nick Ohnell and the Stein Foundation. The new installation
the 2020 history-making marches and protests, Cunningham of opportunity for Blacks, but it did offer more options than they spans the entire second floor of the Museum, across 8,000 square
was selected to photograph the cover of British Vogue’s special were finding elsewhere during that time in history,” she adds. feet, and was conceived by Kathleen Goncharov, Senior Curator.
issue titled Activism Now: the Faces of Hope. Featuring a portrait Decades later, the descendants of those Pearl City pioneers The dominating principle for these new collection galleries is
he took of his wife, the prominent activist Brittany Packnett found it necessary to protect the community their ancestors the quality of the objects and the way they are installed: creating
Cunningham, the headline-grabbing magazine cover was heralded built. As the city grew, Pearl City’s location became more new connections between works of art in a variety of media,
as a consequential power-couple move. The pair first met in 2014 appealing to encroaching real estate developers who wanted from diverse cultures and across centuries. The Museum’s
at a Black Lives Matter protest a few blocks from Cunningham’s to rezone the area for commercial use. Thanks to the work of collections of African Art and Art of the Americas, a gift from
family home in St. Louis. They are currently based in D.C. the Developing Interracial Social Change organization, and David and Jean Colker, have been repositioned to better give
The exhibition is accompanied by a fully illustrated catalog, to many other community activists, this Museum project is visitors opportunities to see cultural links and compelling
featuring an essay about the artist by Dr. Imani M. Cheers, part of a larger effort to advocate for the designation of Pearl aesthetic connections between art from the distant past and the
Associate Professor of Digital Storytelling at The George City as a State of Florida Historic District. work of Contemporary artists. This mix of cultures, media, and
Washington University. The catalog also includes a historical This exhibition also features the oral histories of both current- centuries, with unexpected juxtapositions, offers a fresh look at
essay by Dr. Candace Cunningham, Assistant Professor of History day Pearl City residents and the children of the original settlers the continuum of artmaking. The Museum’s newly renovated
at Florida Atlantic University. This is the first time a museum has who have moved to other cities. Visitors to the Museum may hear Ohnell Sculpture Garden and the Mary Ann and Harold E. Perper
presented a solo exhibition of Reginald Cunningham’s work. the stories in the subjects’ own words via audio and transcribed Courtyard also debut this season.
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