Noel Anderson: Blak Origin Moment

Noel Anderson is a Louisville, KY-born artist and a professor at the University of Cincinnati, presently working in New York City. He is known for complex investigations into the evolving make-up of black male identity translated through a variety of textiles – from old rugs to digitally produced tapestries. 

This exhibition emerges out of performance work Anderson is doing with readings of scripts established through interviews of black men. Prompted by the provocative question, “When did you know you were black?” he produces a series of intimate interviews/recollections as to the origin and genealogy of black consciousness . While there is no one consensus of black thought, there are shared experiences which propose the plurality of singularity, and vice versa. Through a diverse means of representation, this show seeks to examine material and immaterial manifestations of contemporary black masculine thought as expressed through analog (historical) and contemporary (digital) means. The works in this exhibition will range from prints and woven photographic textiles to video and live performance. While understanding is sought, closure is evaded in hopes the audience will leave provoked to further investigate.

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website.