Fall Art Reception for Maiya Lea Hartman & Noah Lawrence-Holder

Join Us For A Fall Reception.

The Minnesota African American Heritage Museum and Gallery (MAAHMG) will host a Fall reception for Maiya Lea Hartman’s exhibit “That Which Does Not Burn” and Noah Lawrence-Holder’s exhibit “A Stone Egg Beneath The Black Rainbow.”

Hartman and Lawrence-Holder are MAAHMG Artist-In-Residence, and their exhibits showcase works created during their nine-month residency. Their exhibits are on display now through December 2022.

Hartman’s exhibit That Which Does Not Burn is a multimedia body of work celebrating the connections between the past, present, and future of Black identities. This exhibit stresses the importance of learning the names and stories of the Black people in our communities while we are alive, an effort that is especially necessary in this historical time. Hartman said this work began with a desire to create spaces where we can transcend time and travel back to moments or spaces of comfort with ancestors, both known and unknown. Hartman is excited by the possibilities for healing when we look to our ancestors for the wisdom we seek to move forward. What kind of worlds can we create in the alchemy of mixing what was successful in the past, the knowledge we now hold, and our wildest imaginations for a future?

Lawrence-Holder’s exhibit A Stone Egg Beneath the Black Rainbow is a body of work in three parts. The first, The Black Rainbow is a series of digital illustrations that explore queerness and intersectionality, and reflect on the uprising of 2020 and the necessity of violence to institute change. The second, Sankofa, explores the concept of heritage, and Lawrence-Holder’s complex relationship to their own. The word “sankofa” roughly translates to “go back and get it” and is represented by the Adinkra symbol of a bird reaching backward to cradle a precious egg in its mouth. It represents the importance of reaching back for past knowledge in order to make positive change for the future. The third, I Keep a Diary, is a series of drawings that chronicle Lawrence-Holder’s personal life around grief, innocence and struggles with mental health.

Admission is free and free parking in the ramp.