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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 12, 2011)
arts Art Museum Premiers ‘Safety in Numbers,’ Images of Black Identity O n Jan. 8, the Portland Art Museum opened “Safety in Numbers? Images of African American Identity and Community.” Drawn from the Museum’s collection and private lenders, the exhibition features approxi- mately 50 prints, drawings, and photo- graphs exploring the ways in which isola- tion, community, and the search for iden- tity affected African Americans during the 20th century. Early in that century, 47 percent of the Black population migrated from the rural South to the industrial North in search of the American dream. Through often poignant imagery, the exhibition exam- ines the ways in which artists portrayed the struggle of blacks to forge a new life, both public and private, in the Northern urban centers of the United States. While the majority of artists featured in the exhibition are African American, sev- eral non-Black artists whose work is especially insightful in observations of the Black community are included. Throughout the 20th century, images of black Americans revealed unique symp- toms of displacement and the search for identity and community through ever more complex means. On view in the Adams Foundation Foyer and Helen Copeland Gallery, the exhibition is organized by the Portland Art Museum and curated by Jennifer Harper, Ph.D., curatorial assistant. A complimentary brochure accompanies the exhibition. Supported in part by the Vivian and Gordon Gilkey Endowment Fund. N ew Fe at u r e Online Now You can post your announcements online, directly, using The Skanner.com new automatic ‘YOUR BEAT, Eyes on the Street’. Write your weekly community briefs and get them online NOW with The Skanner.com ‘YOUR BEAT, Eyes on the Street.’ Page 12 The Portland and Seattle Skanner january 12, 2011
