The Beautiful Project x North Carolina Museum of Art
Opened: September 4, 2021
Closed, February 13, 2022
Our second major multi-media exhibition, Memory is Ritual: A Remembrance of Ourselves, opened at the North Carolina Museum of Art (NCMA) on Saturday, September 4, 2021. This exhibition was a part of the museum’s NC Artist Connections exhibition, which also featured the work of local artists Stephen Hayes and Hồng-Ân Trương.
Memory is Ritual: A Remembrance of Ourselves explored the memories we are recalled and relearned about our bodies, souls, and spirits during 2020-2021.
“As we live through multiple crises on a global scale that have brought us to a moment of solitude, strife, and survival, this has been a time to remember and examine our interior lives.
This has been a time to mourn and lament. This has been a time to unearth and blossom. This has been a time to rest and remember.”
Khayla Deans, TBP’s creative director and curator of the exhibition.
Through self portraits, poetry, and film, the multimedia installation offered reflections of these memories through rituals of lament, release, and hope.
Memory is Ritual featured a short film, photographs, and prose by filmmaker Pasha Gray, poet Aeran Baskin, and photographers Damola Akintunde, Jamaica Gilmer, Kaci Kennedy, and Winnie Okwakol.
The Exhibition
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Kaci Kennedy
Self Portrait
2021
Digital Print, 36x24.75
Being intentional about transforming difficult and painful seasons into something that I consider to be of value is a ritual that I practice. The intent is to allow myself time to be still, to grieve, to learn, and to grow so that pain can be redirected into something beautiful and into something that I desire to hold on to.
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Damola Akintunde
Self Portrait
2021
Digital Print, 24x32.5
I encountered grief of my old self through an unexpected ritual of reflection. But through visual documentation I saw parts of my identity take on a new form, like an aging bouquet of flowers.
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Jamaica Gilmer
Self Portrait
2021
Digital Print, 24x31.25 in
Learning your hair is a ritual in my family. Caring for each other’s hair is a ritual too. There are always hot comb stories and tender headed stories exchanged. There’s always laughter and quiet. For the first time, my niece Ahmadie did my hair. She adorned every loc with a gold cord, giving me the smiles I gave her when she was small.
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Winnie Okwakol
Self Portrait
2021
Digital Print, 24x32
Journaling is my ritual—a conduit for lament, release and hope. This still life is an exploration of my relationship with transparency. It acts as armor against the fear of failure disguised as ‘winging it.’
I’m out here though.
Memory is Ritual is a production of The Beautiful Project, an arts collective that uses image making, writing, and care to build and utilize voice and power to advance the representational justice and wellness of Black women and girls. The short film was directed by Khayla Deans and Pasha Gray, and featured poetry by Aeran Baskin and art design by Winnie Okwakol.
The Dance
Memory is Ritual: An Embodied Dance featuring The North Carolina Central University Dance Company
Dancers from the North Carolina Central University (NCCU) dance program performed original choreography that explores rituals of lament, release, and hope. This event was an extension of and was inspired by the The Beautiful Project’s installation at the NCMA. After each performance there was a talkback, or informal discussion with the audience, with the chair of NCCU’s dance department, Dr. Kristi Vincent Johnson, and The Beautiful Project’s creative director, Khayla Deans.
Organized by the North Carolina Museum of Art. Generously supported by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. This exhibition is made possible, in part, by the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources; the North Carolina Museum of Art Foundation, Inc.; and the William R. Kenan Jr. Endowment for Educational Exhibitions. Research for this exhibition was made possible by Ann and Jim Goodnight/The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Fund for Curatorial and Conservation Research and Travel.