National Black Arts Festival

July 15, 2008 - August 1, 2008

Constructing History: A Requiem to Mark the Moment

The 40th anniversary of the tragic death of Reverend Martin Luther King and the Birth of the Civil Rights Movement marks the city of Atlanta and the National Black Arts Festival in 2008.  In keeping with the spirit of the time, for the 20th Anniversary of the National Black Arts Festival we have commissioned the artist Carrie Mae Weems to produce a Requiem that Marks the Moment: an arts exhibition in two parts.

With her unique ability to speak to the moment, Weems is internationally recognized as one of the most significant contemporary artists of her generation. Weems has produced major installations for The J. Paul Getty Museum, Williams College and Tulane Universities and her work is included in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, The J. Paul Getty, The Whitney and Metropolitan museums, to name but a few.

In poetic form, A Requiem explores the human rights movement, both in the United States and abroad, from Newark to Natchez, from California to Cambodia, from South Africa to South America. In glimpse, flashbacks, through memory impressions, using film clips, video, 15-20 large scale photographs and song, A Requiem revisits and re-stages the human effort in its struggle for freedom, for the right to be in face of forces that would deny that right.

Free Admission