Come to Central Library and explore the Collins Gallery exhibition, "Matriarch," located on the third floor. The exhibit was curated by local artist Elijah Hasan, whose work is also at the Portland Art Museum’s Black Artists of Oregon exhibition.
The theme of Matriarch is: “In power, in control, in the lead, in front, inbound, inside, intact, intent, indispensable, inalienable, Black Women, indeed.”
Discover art by Kathy Pennington, David F. Walker, Sadé DuBoise, Sunshine Dixon, and Dr. S. Renee Mitchell. All artists contributed pieces focused on the theme of “Matriarch.”
The gallery began its exhibition on February 23 and will be available until March 31.
To inaugurate the exhibition, the library held a reception on February 25 with local DJ Chaz Van Queen.
“He played a set for us that set an energetic, joyful, soulful atmosphere. At one point I counted over 75 guests in attendance. The artists answered questions from Elijah and then took questions from the audience,” shares Jem Jarrett, library assistant at Central Library.
Lana Sweeting, librarian at Central Library, added “It felt wonderful to reopen the building with the Matriarch exhibit and reception. We are hoping that this is the start of more culturally relevant programming at Central. The artists and DJ were so passionate and inspiring. We were so delighted to see so many people from our community show up for this event and we hope to see them again in the near future!”
Made possible by The National Endowment for the Humanities Fund of The Library Foundation.