Another reason to get excited about “Derrick Adams: Buoyant” is the uncommonly large number of Black scholars, artists, and writers involved. They’re at every single level of this exhibition, from curation to commentary to virtual events. This level of commitment to Black excellence is a large part of what makes “Derrick Adams: Buoyant” a Black experience that everyone can understand and enjoy. Here are the events surrounding the MFA's new exhibition, which opens to the public on Sept. 17.
- James E. Bartlett, former Executive Director of the Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Art in Brooklyn, New York, co-curated the show with Hudson River Museum’s Curatorial Department Chair, Laura Vookles.
- Antwaun Sargent, writer, is a New York City-based art critic published in The New York Times, The New Yorker, and more. Sargent’s catalog essay (along with Bartlett’s essay, “Black and Buoyant”) does an excellent job of describing Adams’ Floaters in the context of American history and art history. His perspective was essential to my fully understanding and appreciating this exhibition.
- Like Derrick Adams, Mickalene Thomas is another successful African-American artist working out of New York. She met Adams at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York, and they’ve been friends ever since. Similar to Adams, Thomas often depicts African Americans just being, as opposed to constantly fighting oppression. Watch Adams and Thomas discuss Black radical joy, one of “Derrick Adams: Buoyant” exhibition themes, earlier this year on YouTube or read the transcript in the exhibition catalog.
- Dr. Gretchen Sorin, author of “Driving While Black: African American Travel and the Road to Civil Rights,” and Cynthia Wilson-Graham, co-author of “Remembering Paradise Park: Tourism and Segregation at Silver Springs,” participate in a panel discussion on African American leisure on Thursday, Oct. 15, 2020, 6:30 p.m.-8 p.m.
- Author Tenea D. Johnson introduces us to Afrofuturism in “Black Fantastic, Buoyant and Bold: Art’s Ways of Levitating Over the Weight of the World” on Thursday, Oct. 22, 6 p.m.-7 p.m., and Sunday, Nov. 15, 3 p.m.-4 p.m.
- Poet and Author Denzel Johnson-Green hosts a poetry reading in conjunction with “Derrick Adams: Buoyant” on Sunday, Oct. 25, 3 p.m.-4 p.m.
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This article appears in Sep 17-23, 2020.