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‘Young, Gifted and Black’ opens at Lehigh University to usher in Black History Month
February 1, 2022 9:00AM
The ‘Young, Gifted and Black’ exhibit will run through the end of May at Lehigh University’s Zoellner Arts Center. (Courtesy Photo)
On the first day of Black History Month, a new art exhibition opens at Lehigh University.
It’s called “Young, Gifted and Black.”
The collection takes its name from a song recorded by Nina Simone in 1969 and features the work of over 50 Black painters, sculptors and photographers.
Former MTV executive Bernard Lumpkin owns the collection. He’s loaning it to universities like Lehigh so that explorations of race can reach a wider audience.
“What these artists are wrestling with is the challenge of representing the Black experience from a place that isn’t mediated by western culture, by prejudice, by preconceptions,” Lumpkin said.
The art world has struggled for a long time to address inequity and injustice, he said, and exhibitions featuring artists of color is a first step. But there’s much more work to be done.
Follow the link in the additional information box for the full article by Emma Illick-Frank.
