Black and: A Conversation about the Arts and Black@Intersection

The Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art, in Winston-Salem, NC, has been an affiliate of the NCMA since 2007. Today NCMA members receive reciprocal membership with SECCA and can enjoy all the museum has to offer, including Duane Cyrus’s groundbreaking multimedia exhibition Black@Intersection: Contemporary Black Voices in Art, on view through April 17, 2022.

Bessie Award–nominated performer, choreographer, and professor at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Duane Cyrus guest curated the exhibition, which features many North Carolina artists.

Duane and I share a passion for enlivening the gallery space with movement, dance, music, and the spoken word. At the North Carolina Museum of Art, my mission has included increasing the diversity of artists and artistry in our outdoor venues while also showcasing the performing arts inside the museum walls, all in an effort to create a sense of belonging and joy for all visitors.  Reimagining the People’s Collection, set to open this fall at the NCMA, will echo that passion, particularly in the new multiarts gallery called Art Includes, which seeks to stir up the sometimes static experience of visiting an art museum.

At SECCA I sat down with Duane to talk about his show Black@Intersection, what intersectionality means, and the importance of lifting Black voices in the arts.

“There’s a beauty in Blackness, in all its diversity.”

—Duane Cyrus