ArtCrawl Harlem exhibit ignites inspiration for overcoming obstacles
NEW YORK – A new art exhibit is celebrating Harlem's history and influence on culture. A variety of visions and styles come together at "Fire & Soul 2022: We're Still Harlem", inspiring art lovers to overcome.
"We often talk about some of the troubles and difficulty," said Saundra Heath, the Heath Gallery's director and co-curator for the exhibit. "We don't often talk about how we get through it, so this is what this exhibition is intended to do."
Ten artists were selected to display their work at the Heath Gallery and online, as part of ArtCrawl Harlem. The curators received an Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone grant to make the exhibit possible.
Kenwyn Murray hopes his piece, "No Love Dying," conveys joy in the face of obstacles.
"You have to find that sense of center within yourself," Murray said, "and you have to continually reach for the beautiful things in life to get through the muck.
Kinna LeBlanc's face reflects the pain of losing her mother in a painting by Demarcus McGaughey.
"This particular day I was drowning," LeBlanc said of the image. "And I guess he captured that energy."
Each piece holds a mixture of messages.
"I think of the duality, so there's the dark and the light, it's all in that piece," said artist Heather Williams of her work on display.
For Williams, sometimes the process means more than the finished product.
"I'm taking papers and tearing them down and adding them on to something new and different to create something else that is beautiful as something that works," explained Williams.
Yvonne Lamar-Rogers has multiple pieces in the exhibit, a reflection of her own pandemic experience.
"For me it was, OK, now I have time to do all the things that I said I didn't have time to do," Lamar-Rogers said, "so I got busy and started creating art."
This kind of exposure is rare for these artists, outside of a Black-owned space.
"You know that the stories that you're presenting are going to be understood, that there's certain things that you're not going to have to explain," Heath said.
The "Fire & Soul 2022: We're Still Harlem" exhibit is open through April 2 at the Heath Gallery, located on West 120th Street across from Marcus Garvey Park. The art is also on sale online through the end of April.
