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Reopening of ‘Tell me your story; 100 years of storytelling in African American Art’

Kunsthal  KAdE, Amersfoort, The Netherlands, from June 1 until August 30, 2020

The Tell Me Your Story exhibition, about 100 years of storytelling in African-American art, has been extended until August 30. Thanks to the generous lenders, the exhibition, which had to close due to the Corona crisis, can be seen longer.

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Dareece Walker, Made in the USA, 2016

Tell Me Your Story opened on February 7 and was already very successful in the first month. Critics appreciated the first overview of African-American art in the Netherlands:

The Belgian weekly Knack wrote: If you want to see what art can mean for people’s self-understanding, you should view the powerful works of black artists in Amersfoort that are still far too unknown here.

Het Parool:  Dealing with and settling or transcending history is the common thread in Tell Me Your Story. (…) For that reason alone, a visit to KAdE in Amersfoort is a must.

De Volkskrant:  (…)  it isan impressive and large-scale exhibition with years of preparation.

The Belgian art magazine De Witte Raaf wrote (….) an exhibition where you can feel the intense need to be known and seen, to tell and protest, but also to celebrate.

Jonathan Lyndon Chase, 1 head 3 masks, 2018

Installation view. Works of Faith Ringgoldphoto Peter Cox

Tell Me Your Story tells the story of the African-American population through the past century. The exhibition is chronologically divided into five epochs: Harlem Renaissance (1920s), Post Harlem Renaissance (1920s to 50s), Civil Rights (1960s and 70s), Black Renaissance (1990s) and Bloom Generation (now). The common denominator of the different artists is the need to express themselves about their personal and collective history. This puts them in an important African tradition: storytelling.

Installation view. Works of Henry Taylor, photo Mike Bink

The exhibition is curated by guest curator Rob Perrée:
Black American artists have a lot to say and a lot of interesting ways to show it. They want  to be heard. Until now, they have hardly been heard in the Netherlands. This exhibition offers a unique opportunity to make up for that neglect.
More than 140 loans from 50 artists, mainly from the United States, are presented. Acclaimed names such as Romare Bearden, Jacob Lawrence, Gordon Parks, Robert Colescott, Kerry James Marshall, Kara Walker, Kehinde Wiley, Lyle Ashton Harris and Henry Taylor are shown alongside (in Europe) lesser known artists such as Aaron Douglas, Charles White, Elizabeth Catlett, Benny Andrews, Faith Ringgold, Todd Gray, Radcliffe Bailey, Jonathan Lyndon Chase, Cameron Welch, Dareece Walker and Devan Shimoyama. Many of the works are exhibited for the first time in the Netherlands.

GO TO THE WEBSITE OF KUNSTHAL KAdE TO BUY TICKETS: https://www.kunsthalkade.nl/nl/tickets

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