The Black Artist Residency is an inaugural program created by a partnership between the Fitchburg Art Museum and artist-collective WHERE ARE ALL THE BLACK PEOPLE AT (WAATBPA). The residency offered seven artists unfettered access to the museum’s permanent collection over a one-year period: Archy LaSalle, George Annan, bashexo, Digi Chivetta, Sharon Dunn, Reginald Jackson, and Lou Jones. Dialogues, Diasporas, and Detours Through Africa is organized by multi-disciplinary artist, writer, and curator Dell Marie Hamilton in collaboration with FAM’s curator Lauren Szumita.

Since the late 19th century, Black artists in the United States have cultivated a rich creative dialogue with Africa. Each artist in residence adds their unique voice to this conversation through deep engagements with FAM’s African art collection, using selected works as catalysts and points of departure to create new bodies of work. Their exhibition will offer audiences a view into the latest chapter of a long-standing and evolving discourse with the continent. 

Several artworks and cultural belongings from the museum’s collection serve as foundations for the work produced in the residency. African masquerades, an Egyptian mummified child, a Senufo champion farmer’s staff from Côte d’Ivoire, wooden Ifa divination trays from Nigeria, and others appear as sources of inspiration. These works will be on display alongside the artwork they inspired. Dialogues, Diasporas, and Detours Through Africa provides viewers with an expansive look into the artistic processes of each artist through photography, virtual exhibitions, performance art, installation, digital video, and a reading room to further contextualize the rigor and beauty of African art and its aesthetic impact.