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Kevin J. Beattie/Denver Wright
Kevin J. Beattie/Denver WrightThe show’s original curator, Valerie Cassel Oliver of the Virginia Museum of Art, had extensive connections with Gulf South musicians after spending time in Houston. After Cassel Oliver relocated to Richmond, Virginia, she created a show that explores the history of her artistic practice from the turn of the 20th century to the present day.
There was a clear inspiration in turning this vast idea into a cohesive journey as visitors walked through the exhibition.
“I focused on music, especially modern Southern hip-hop, because … the introductory text begins with ‘The South has something to say. The South always had something to say,” said Cassel Oliver. “But it’s something about how it emerged in modern Southern hip-hop that really gave it a kind of intrusion and a mirror to reflect what was always there.”
The exhibition is divided into three sections: Landscape, Vision/Spirituality, and Blackbody. Unlike the usual exhibitions at the MCA, where works are made up of decades of contemporary art, “Dirty South” explores the African-American music of the South by featuring the work of artists from the last century. Celebrate cultural and visual traditions.
Kevin J. Beattie/Denver Wright
Kevin J. Beattie/Denver Wright“I mean, even though these artists were born and raised in the South, we don’t usually think of them as Southern, but they carry a lot of it with them and they put that aesthetic into their work. There was an overlay that said,” says Cassel. Oliver said. “So it makes sense that what I saw as the new bravado feeling was really always there. The younger generation has stepped forward outwardly.
“I started comparing it to the rise of Southern hip-hop, and Southern hip-hop kind of gave a new story to a South that didn’t exist before it was traumatized, traumatized. It was a civil rights issue, and this was a very new way of looking at myself as an African-American.”
The Dirty South also reveals the intersection of Southern culture, visual arts and music.
Kevin J. Beattie/Denver Wright
Kevin J. Beattie/Denver WrightThe exhibit invites you to think about jazz, how it is celebrated as an original American musical form, and all the cultural intersections that have occurred to give rise to it.
“But my opinion is, what is the visual equivalent of jazz? Where is this notion of improvisation? Where is the bending of the material, not just the bending of the notes? Use it in black music.” Where is the same conceptual framing of ‘Where do you see it? How do you see it?’ said Cassel Oliver. “These intersectionality comes from here. Conceptually, it’s how an artist approaches a particular field. And the same thing happens visually when you think about improvisation.”
Cassell Oliver said the South always had something to say, but something about how it manifested itself in contemporary Southern hip-hop inspired her vision.
“The South has become so multifaceted, but we see naturalism in terms of African-American journeys. You can see how it’s been done.”
Kevin J. Beattie/Denver Wright
Kevin J. Beattie/Denver WrightThe exhibition’s name, Dirty South, may be confusing to those unfamiliar with the term, but Cassell Oliver said it was intended to celebrate the history of the South as a unique force. I was.
“Honestly, before it was invented in hip-hop, it was a term I understood as an endearment, a term that meant that the South itself was an agricultural society, a land that was an agrarian economy powerhouse. The economy of the South was originally born of the land itself, which is literally…a society rooted in the soil.”
The Dirty South: Contemporary Art, Material Culture, and the Sonic Impulse runs through Sunday, February 5, 2023.
Events for the final week of The Dirty South exhibition include:
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