UMW Galleries

Healing Through the Preservation of Our Histories and Our Selves

Healing Through the Preservation of Our Histories and Our Selves provides an opportunity to acknowledge tensions, consider the need to preserve African American histories, and find meaning and reconciliation through the experience. The past two years brought collective trauma to the world, highlighting our need for healing on multiple levels. Both the COVID-19 pandemic and the resurgence of the racial justice movement revealed the need to work within our communities to acknowledge pain, process the past, and find room for catharsis. The artist Maren Hassinger said, “Ancestry comes down to the present like a flood leaving in its wake debris for future generations to endure and attempt to heal.” Now that we find ourselves in the wake of all that was unearthed and uprooted over the past two years, we understand that historical preservation can also be a function of self-preservation. This exhibition’s call to contemplate our tangled histories is an invitation to heal, both as individuals and as communities.

Please click HERE to view images of the art and pictures from the exhibition.

Healing Through the Preservation of Our Histories and Our Selves