More than 400 artists applied to take part in an exhibition currently underway at the African American Museum at Fair Park in Dallas. This is the 27th annual Carroll Harris Simms National Black Art Competition and Exhibition.
"The beautiful thing is when you're viewing art, you can come in with your own experience, your own expertise. What is it that you see?" asks Gerald Leavell, Helen Giddings Fellow at the museum. "Three questions I always ask people to ask themselves when they're engaging with an artwork is what's going on in this piece? What do you see that makes you say that? Then what more can you find? I think when people go through that process, you're able to learn something about the piece you may not have if you just did a quick pass."
Leavell says those questions can then spark a conversation about the piece.
"Guess what? We're doing exactly what the art piece was intending us to do, which is have a dialogue, either between two viewers or the viewer and the art piece," he says.
Of the 400 submissions, about 50 were selected and are on display at the African American Museum through March 17. Jurors selected winners in six categories plus a "Best in Show":
PRINTMAKING: Hallelujah Anyhow, 2021; Steve Prince (Williamsburg, VA)
SCULPTURE/ASSEMBLAGE: Three Graces, 2022, Austen Brantley (Detroit, MI)
PAINTING: Homecoming, 2022, Assandre Jean-Baptiste (Cedar Hill, Texas)
PHOTOGRAPHY: Faded, 2021, Inyang Essien (Addison, Texas)
DRAWING: Perseverance, 2022, Manasseh Johnson Sr. (Converse, Texas)
MIXED MEDIA: Born and Reborn, 2022, Mayowa Nwadike (New York, NY)
BEST IN SHOW: Hallelujah Anyhow, 2021; Steve Prince (Williamsburg, VA)
Assandre Jean-Baptiste says his Homecoming shows a man who has just returned from a journey.
"Picture yourself in Louisiana on Bourbon Street, and a band is following you. That's an illustration of what I'm trying to capture here with Homecoming," he says. "I'm also trying to illustrate the richness of coming back after a long journey."
He says Homecoming aims to show a sense of celebration and the importance of letting yourself accept a feeling of accomplishment.
"He's got his feet kicked up. He's just enjoying the ride, he's just relaxing," Jean-Baptiste says. "Many times, I've seen depictions of a subject, especially Black men, just going through times of work and pushing forward any sort of action when it came to surviving. I really wanted to illustrate the sense of celebrating what you've done and kicking back, and allowing yourself to accept that feeling."
Details about the 27th Carroll Harris Simms National Black Art Competition and Exhibition are available here.
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