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MADERA, Calif. (KSEE/KGPE) – An creation accumulation successful Madera is highlighting Black artists and showing disconnected the stories down their work.
The Madera County Arts Council's grounds "Foundry: Honoring Histories and Imagining Futures" is designed to spark conversation, education, and reflection up of Juneteenth.
The grounds features paintings, photography, sculptures and 3D creation that Madera County Arts Council's Director of Programs and Operations, Areej Latif, says tin onslaught a chord with anyone.
“Arts is an planetary connection that brings radical together,” Latif said. “It elevates voices, but it besides communicates and educates radical that we’re each the same.”
Latif, a Palestinian-American who grew up successful the Middle East, says she knew precise small astir Juneteenth until she helped signifier the archetypal section accumulation past year.
Areej Latif, Madera County Arts Council's Director of Programs and Operations“I had nary thought until we had our archetypal Juneteenth exhibition,” Latif said. “We person a batch of artists successful the Central Valley that don’t truly amusement capable of their ain position of what Juneteenth is for them and for the community. Once it was each brought together, I was capable to understand.”
Tonyce Givens helped curate the archetypal Juneteenth accumulation successful Madera successful 2024. As a historiographer and co-curator of this year's exhibit, Givens says Juneteenth is inactive misunderstood by galore Americans.
“The Emancipation Proclamation lone freed enslaved radical who were inactive enslaved successful Confederate states,” Givens said. “So Juneteenth celebrates specifically erstwhile enslaved radical successful Texas recovered retired astir the Emancipation Proclamation 2 years later.”
This is the 2nd twelvemonth Madera has hosted a Juneteenth-themed creation exhibition. Givens says this year’s taxable invites radical to bespeak connected the past portion imagining a much conscionable and inclusive future.
Tonyce Givens, who helped curate the archetypal Juneteenth accumulation successful Madera successful 2024“There’s a batch of glossing implicit tragedies that person happened,” Givens said. “And I don’t deliberation we’re going to get the extremity effect that we assertion we privation until we rectify each of those tragedies.”
The exhibition’s different curator, Kambyra Bailey, is besides 1 of the featured artists.
“I’m mostly a painter. That’s my main medium. But I’m besides a collagist, textile artist,” Bailey said.
As an artist, Bailey says she understands the agelong hours of labour down each portion and the vulnerability that comes with sharing that enactment publicly.
She hopes visitors permission with a greater appreciation for not conscionable the creation itself, but the radical and stories down it.
Kambyra Bailey, co-curator of "Foundry: Honoring Histories and Imagining Futures"“I would anticipation that with this grounds that radical permission with this deeper assemblage and knowing of the idiosyncratic lasting adjacent to them,” she said. “We person truthful overmuch more, I think, successful communal than we bash different.”
The grounds is unfastened to the nationalist done July 4 astatine the Madera County Arts Council building. More accusation can beryllium recovered by clicking here.
