In a Bracing Exhibition at the Guggenheim, Artists Challenge the Way History Is Told
Ashley James’s group show “Off the Record” exemplifies how curators with strong vision might reform institutions from within.
Leslie Hewitt,
Reviews - May 28, 2021
When Sadie Barnette was a kid growing up in Oakland, California, her father didn’t talk much about his time in the Black Panther Party. It’s possible he simply had other things to say. Rodney Barnette, who is now in his late seventies, has lived an uncommonly fascinating life. Born and raised in one of the oldest Black communities in the Boston area, he got involved in community organizing early on, followed the teachings of Malcolm X, was drafted into the army, earned a Purple Heart in Vietnam, took a job with the US Postal Service, joined the anti-war movement, took some time off to read W. E. B. DuBois and Karl Marx, helped the national campaign to free Angela Davis, and opened the first Black-owned gay bar in San Franc
New-york
United-states
Compton
California
Mumbai
Maharashtra
India
Oakland
Boston
Massachusetts
Vietnam
Republic-of
G. Allen Johnson May 5, 2021Updated: May 10, 2021, 1:35 pm
San Francisco artist Alicia McCarthy is one of the eight Bay Area artists featured in “Tell Them We Were Here.” Photo: Courtesy BAMPFA
The worldview of the new documentary “Tell Them We Were Here,” which profiles eight current Bay Area artists whose work over the decades has not only made an impact but also helped inform the Bay Area’s artistic identity, is expressed by an early voice-over in the film: “Artists in the Bay Area are more devoted to a ‘life’ in arts rather than a ‘career’ in arts.”
The inventive and informative film by artist and Gallery 16 founder Griff Williams and filmmaker Keelan Williams made its world premiere in the virtual cinema of the Berkeley Art Museum’s Pacific Film Archive on Friday, May 7. It also features local curators from BAMPFA, Oakland Museum and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art as well as other observers and artists such as filmmaker Eleanor Cop
San-quentin
California
United-states
Oakland
San-francisco
Matt-gonzalez
G-allen-johnson
Alicia-mccarthy
Sadie-barnette
Rodney-barnette
Jim-goldberg
Eleanor-coppola