Gathering Place Features New Art Exhibition For Black History Month

Artists have come together to start a conversation about the future. They teamed up with Gathering Place to create and exhibition for Black History Month called "Dear Black Future."

The piece is conveyed through the eyes of Burrows Elementary Students and community leaders.

Let's have a conversation about the word "freedom." Let's have a conversation about education, about Tulsa and not Tulsa's past but instead, Tulsa's future.

Let's tell that story through the eyes of children from Burrows Elementary in Tulsa.

"I wanted children to be a pathway, to which we could return to this innocence as we imagine the possibilities of black future," said artist, Marlon Hall.

That's the idea behind Dear Black Future. The exhibit stands tall in The Boathouse at Gathering Place until the end of February.

"I go to communities that have unfortunately experienced physical, emotional, or social trauma- the kind of trauma that can knock the memory of their history right out of them. My work is to be a window in which people can remember themselves," said Hall.

Marlon and his team created the exhibit.

"Black History Month could be a time portal. We normally have our backs to the future and our faces to the past. But in the wake of the centennial, what if we were to reorient?" said Hall.

This is an exhibit for the entire community. It's an exhibit that calls us all to look forward.

"The whole city is invited to make a contribution through that letter," said Hall.

At the end of the month, each letter will be read aloud.

There is a power in art and in art's place in moving history forward.

"Black people put this together- they can do that. Anything they put their minds to, they can accomplish," said artist, Ayilla Musa.

"The sum total of human flourishing has consistently, presently, and will forever be better, because of black folk and their contributions," said Hall.