NC Artist Connections: The Beautiful Project, Stephen Hayes, and Hồng-Ân Trương

Overview

The NCMA has provided art education, inspiration, and access to generations. For artists the Museum has been a particularly special place as a guide for burgeoning careers and a space for study and experimentation. In this exhibition the NCMA highlights three artists who present new and reorganized pieces with themes of their choosing that link to important works in the Museum collection.

Stephen Hayes explores historical depictions of African Americans as they relate to social justice. Hồng-Ân Trương connects to issues of communication (and misunderstanding) between disparate cultures. The Beautiful Project grapples with ideas of memory and ritual. Each of these concepts exists in conversation with the NCMA and its holdings. By linking the Museum to local contemporary artists, the exhibition helps visitors understand the NCMA’s contemporary art collection in new ways as well as gain a deeper understanding of the artists’ relationships to these works.

Organized by the North Carolina Museum of Art. Generously supported by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. This exhibition is made possible, in part, by the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources; the North Carolina Museum of Art Foundation, Inc.; and the William R. Kenan Jr. Endowment for Educational Exhibitions. Research for this exhibition was made possible by Ann and Jim Goodnight/The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Fund for Curatorial and Conservation Research and Travel.

Winnie Okwakol, Self-Portrait, 2021, from Memory Is Ritual: A Remembrance of Ourselves by The Beautiful Project, digital print, 24 × 36 in., Courtesy of Winnie Okwakol

Exhibition Sponsors