BLACKOUT: Through the Veiled Eyes of Others
Racist Memorabilia from the Collection of William Berry, Jr.
Berry’s collection highlights how ordinary household artifacts have distorted how generations of Americans view people of African descent as somehow less than human. Mainstream media may refer to a post-racial 21st century America, but stereotypes and distortions of Black people persist nonetheless. This exhibition invites viewers to confront how everyday objects support and perpetuate racism.
“I remember at a certain point in time there was an argument that Black people should seek to have this stuff destroyed,” says Berry. “My position was that you always want to remember what happens when you allow someone to define who you are.”
A retired higher education administrator, Berry currently publishes the online literary journal, aaduna. He has researched and reflected on the variations of racial thinking since the 1960s, and started to collect “differing” images of Black identity in the early 1970s.
EXHIBITION SPONSORS:
Anti-Racism & White Privilege Study Group, Edgewood Gallery, Bob Gates & Deborah Welsh, John Haritatos,Marjorie Head, Barbara Kobritz, Ellen McKinnon,Dr. Erica Vernold Miller, Carole Resnick, Ann Tiffany & Ed Kinane, Mary Traynor, Carmen Viviano-Crafts and Anita WelychSEASON SPONSORS:
Kathy Barry & Brian Caufield, Donald Blair & Nancy Dock, John & Dolores Brule, Chana Bursztyn, Dik Cool, Annemarie Deegan, Harry Heilman,David & Jeanne Holstein, The Holtz Family Fund, Sandra Hurd & Joel Potash, Ann Jamison, Mary Kuhn, Joe Leonard, Walter & Lauren Melnikow, Shirley & Larry Novak, Robert Sarason & Jane Burkhead, George Savage, Laurie Gilmore Selleck, Cindy Seymour & Laura Serway, Tupper Property Management, Jeff Unaitis, Ron Van Norstrand, Amy Zamkoff and Anonymous (2)
