The Stars Fell on Alabama: Southern Black Renaissance offers a glimpse into a cultural phenomenon too large to be contained in any one museum or gallery. The exhibition, hosted in Edel Assanti Gallery of London, presents works produced by seven artists originally from Alabama, from the 1980s to today, whose talents are symbolic of a vast cultural revolution. Mary L. Bennett, Richard Dial, Thornton Dial, Lonnie Holley, Ronald Lockett, Joe Minter, Mose Tolliver are the artists presented in the exhibition, with works ranging from mixed media painting to sculptures created with patchwork and quilting techniques; the works on display come directly from the artists, their estates and private collections in the region.
The artistic production of this generation remained unknown for a long time, finding space in predominantly non-institutional, non-commercial contexts and often deeply anchored to the local dimension. Alabama, and in particular the Birmingham metropolitan area, has stood out as an epicenter of a cultural ferment on the fringes of traditional channels of legitimation, although welcoming and nurturing the practices of numerous artists. Despite the absence of deliberate planning, this region has proven to be extraordinarily fertile ground for the development of an autonomous and lively cultural scene, which is still renewed today thanks to the work of many artists.
In November 1833, an extraordinary astronomical event profoundly affected the collective imagination of Alabama: the Leonid meteor shower. This celestial spectacle not only left an indelible mark on the memory of the inhabitants, but inspired books and popular songs, to the point of becoming a symbol of the identity of the State of Alabama, even immortalized on car license plates. The meteor shower thus became a perfect metaphor: an explosion of light coming from a single point in the sky, a symbol of creative efflorescence which, although rooted in a specific place, managed over time to radiate as a sort of cultural insurrection.
Another crucial event, this time historical, marked the culture of South America and its relationship with artistic production. On April 4, 1968, the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. generated a wave of grief and anger that swept across the country. In Alabama, this wound resulted in a collective response from black artists, who began to give voice to their experiences through highly refined, often abstract works. It was the moment in which the boundaries between private and public space dissolved, and creations – defined “yard shows” – began to appear in gardens and along streets. These environments, humble but full of meaning, became the visual expression of a culture that could no longer be ignored.
The Stars Fell on Alabama: Southern Black Renaissance, installation view, Edel Assanti, London, 2024. Photo: Tom Carter
Among the artists present in the exhibition, Richard Dial, born in 1955, represents with extraordinary effectiveness the duality that distinguishes Alabama’s artistic production: on the one hand a deep connection with the local context and African-American cultural traditions; on the other, a broader reflection on issues related to power, memory and identity. Raised in Bessemer, in 1984, Richard Dial founded the Dial Metal Patterns with the specific aim of creating “quality wrought iron furniture”. Thanks to the skills acquired as a train driver at the Pullman Standard Company and with the support of his father and brother, he produced his first line of furniture entitled Shade Tree Comfort. These works are based on the familiar shape of the chair, an object that, by its nature, promises welcome and rest. However, Dial subverts this idea, using his sculptures to explore complex and “uncomfortable” themes, such as power and deprivation. In this series, Dial connects to the African-American tradition that attributes a profound symbolic value to chairs, often associated with authority. This reference harks back to ancestral African culture, where leaders were metaphorically supported by the images and strength of their ancestors, thus transforming an everyday object into a means of cultural and historical narration.
Richard Dial, Precious, 2021, Oil-based paint on metal, fabric, 157.48 x 71.12 x 66.04 cm
Collector and scholar William S. Arnett argued that visiting Alabama in the 1980s was like visiting Florence, at the height of the Renaissance. However, unlike the Florentine Renaissance, which thrived thanks to the support of wealthy and ambitious patrons, Alabama’s Black Renaissance was born from a deeply rooted need: the urgency of giving voice to the experiences of a community born of a history of oppression secular. This movement was certainly not supported by the luxury and economic capacity of its patrons, but rather by a strong resilience and the need to articulate a common narrative, which had remained suffocated for too long by the wounds of slavery, by the systemic injustice of Jim Crow laws and the isolation imposed by segregation.
The Stars Fell on Alabama: Southern Black Renaissance, installation view, Edel Assanti, London, 2024. Photo: Tom Carter
The exhibition can be visited until 30 November 2024.
