African-American Artists Series at Holy Cross Continues

WORCESTER, Mass. – Artist Deborah Muirhead will give a lecture and slide presentation, titled “Claiming a Story: Abstraction and the Power of a Narrative,” at 5 p.m. on Thursday, March 18, in Stein Hall 129 at Holy Cross. The presentation, which is the final segment of the College’s African-American Artists Series, is free and open to the public.

Muirhead's paintings, drawings and books are “fictional narratives that investigate historical invisibility.” Her identity as an African-American descendant of enslaved persons, her research in genealogy and her interest in African-American literature and history, all form the basis for her provocative and richly layered work. She writes that her work “reflects an examination of history, identity, presence and absence.” Her work combines fragments of text, lists of names, layers of wax, paint, and collaged pictures. Muirhead has received a Guggenheim Fellowship and a Hearst Fellowship, along with other national awards.

Originally conceived by Kiara Upshaw ‘04, co-chair of the Black Student Union at Holy Cross, the African-American Artists Series was established to provide programming that speaks to the contemporary issues being addressed by African-American artists.