Black and Blue: Lest We Forget

Dallas artist and curator Vicki Meek celebrates the historical and inspirational contributions that Dallas’s former Bishop College (1961-88) made to black cultural development with her “Black and Blue: Lest We Forget” exhibition opening at the Community Artists’ Collective Saturday, January 18.

The exhibition, which runs through February 29, is the original 15 collages used to create the “Black and Blue: Cultural Oasis in the Hills” commemorative markers that comprise the site-specific installation commissioned by the Nasher Sculpture Center for Nasher Xchange 2013-14. This installation is now permanently installed on the campus of Paul Quinn College in Dallas.

“For over 35 years I have spent my creative energies reclaiming African American history in installations that both invoke memory and emotion,” Meek stated.

“I have researched my community’s past hurts and slights, its horrors and abominations, its beauty marks and warts, all with the purpose of making my audience face history without apology. Black & Blue: Cultural Oasis in the Hills was created to help Dallas, particularly Black Dallas, face the truth about one aspect of Bishop College’s history and hopefully place Bishop at the center of Black cultural development, a place it has rightfully earned,” she continued.

Meek, a native of Philadelphia, is a nationally recognized artist whose work is in the permanent collections of the African American Museum in Dallas, The Museum of Fine Arts in Houston and Norwalk (Connecticut) Community College.

The opening reception is Saturday, January 18th, from 3pm to 5pm.