Through Lenses of 12 Black Artists, CAMH Presents Visual History of Houston’s Freedmen’s Town
Jan. 2, 2024
IN THE SUMMER of 1865, less than two months after the end of the Civil War, thousands of former slaves, or “freedpeople,” from the Texas countryside and every state in the former Confederacy made the pilgrimage via the San Felipe Trail to Houston’s Fourth Ward and established Freedman’s Town — a neighborhood for families determined to build and establish a thriving community as the country entered the Reconstruction era. Nearby cypress trees provided wood to construct family homes and handcrafted bricks were used to create the neighborhood’s streets. In June 2021, the Houston City Council voted to make Freedmen’s Town the city’s first official Heritage District, which allows nonprofits to help fund the restoration and care of the community’s historic structures, including those brick streets.
Bricks are a recurring visual motif in THIS WAY: A Houston Group Show, a group show of paintings, photographs, videos, and mixed-media works by 12 Black artists that explore the history of Freedman’s Town, and life as it is lived today in this historic community. On view at the Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston through March 17, the exhibit is part of the CAMH’s new partnership with Houston Freedman’s Town Conservatory (HFTC) and is curated by Mich Stevenson, with support from fifth-generation Freedman’s Town resident Charonda Johnson.
The participating artists include Johnson, the late artist and designer Imhotep Blot, Colby Deal, Nahtan (Nate Edwards), Dom Elam, Amarie Gipson, Priscilla T. Graham, Gem Hale, Berlin, Jaylen Pigford, Irene Antonia Diane Reece, and DJ and musicologist Jason Woods, also known as Flash Gordon Parks. Each artist was granted a research fellowship to create a work informed by the archives of Freedman Town’s African American Research Center and oral histories from the community’s residents.
The art on display ranges from large-scale installations to smaller intimate works, some relatively straightforward, others more head-scratching and cryptic, although nothing is presented without helpful historical background. Johnson’s miniature, mixed media work of found objects, including what looks like balls of cotton in the riders seats of a small Ferris wheel, pays tribute to the De-Ro-Loc (colored spelled backward) Carnival, which was established by Black Houstonians in 1899 in response to the whites-only No-Tsu-Oh (Houston spelled backward) autumn festival. Woods’ installation “The Ebony Bar” recreates the 1950s-era Freedman’s Town Tavern owned and operated by George Edward Johnson, and includes a bar, signage, and a vintage jukebox listing classic 45” singles by Bubbha Thomas and The Lightmen, soul-jazz guitarist Melvin Sparks, Masters of Soul, and — humorously positioned under “Fox Trots and Rumbas” — DJ Screw’s classic mixtape “Robin St. 4 Life.” Meanwhile, Nate Edward’s poetic video “Hold It Close, Don’t Forget” features four different generations of Freedman’s Town Residents clinging to and suspended in the air by floating bricks.
In a time when basic, fundamental historical facts are being threatened with erasure, THIS WAY is not only a celebration of regional identity and pride but an opportunity for Houstonians and tourists visiting the Museum District to learn more about and connect with our nation’s collective history.
Installation view of 'THIS WAY: A Houston Group Show' at Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, 2023. (Photo by Sean Fleming)
Installation view of 'THIS WAY: A Houston Group Show' at Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, 2023. (Photo by Sean Fleming)
Installation view of 'THIS WAY: A Houston Group Show' at Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, 2023. (Photo by Sean Fleming)
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Two Artists Cultivate Friendship from Halfway Across the Globe — and Show Their Work at a Houston Gallery
Jan. 2, 2024
THE FRUITS OF a cross-cultural, multigenerational friendship are on display in Things Fall Apart, an exhibit across two galleries at Redbud Arts Center. The show features recent paintings by New Orleans-born, Houston-based artist Randall Mosman and Copenhagen’s Anders Moseholm; it opens Saturday, Jan. 6, and runs through Jan. 27.
Mosman first encountered Moseholm’s work in Stockholm in 2013 and was so impressed with his work he included him in a group show at Redbud alongside several other Scandinavian artists. Known for his fever dream-like paintings of urbane interiors and futuristic cityscapes, Moseholm had never visited the Deep South, and seeing the arid landscapes and fecund swamplands of Texas and Louisiana, and later, the deserts of the American West and the Grand Canyon, would have a profound impact on his work. While in Houston, Mosman put his new friend in touch with gallerists, helped him get a studio, and the two embarked upon a series of collaborative exhibits, including one at Devin Borden Gallery in 2019. Their upcoming show at Redbud is their most expansive yet, and Moseholm will be in Houston for the opening.
The show’s title refers to Chinua Achebe’s 1958 novel Things Fall Apart, and its story of pre-colonial life in Igboland, now modern-day southeastern Nigeria, and the impact of colonialism on its people and culture. While still wholly recognizable, the subject matter of Mosman’s recent paintings has been streamlined to stark effect. The rural and swampland inhabitants who once populated his work, such as the couple making love in “Under the Apple Tree,” and the crowd gathered to witness a river baptism in “The Power of Water,” are now gone. Instead, the viewer is now confronted with a veritable wasteland, along with Mosman’s trademark whitewashed houses, most of which are falling to pieces. In contrast, Moseholm’s busy multiverse paintings of city streets, bridges, and buildings are overlaid with denizens of the natural world, including plant life and animals, giving the viewer the sense they are traversing two or more dimensions at once. Whereas Mosman deals with the remnants of a collapsed system, Moseholm presents the potential for regeneration after that collapse. “It’s left for the viewer to determine is this the end or is this the beginning?” says Mosman.
Since their first meeting, the two artists have developed a brotherly rapport and watched each other’s practice and families grow. Mosman, now 41, and his artist wife Tarina Frank are now parents of a son and a daughter (“Fire and water!”), and post-pandemic, he has moved on from teaching art to more fulfilling employment with the non-profit organization Urban Harvest, who provide community garden programming, farmers markets, and gardening classes.
“Going out and helping people get access to good food and teaching people how to grow food has been important for me,” says Mosman. “It’s really fulfilling.”
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