Gallery Talk with Cameron Alexander

March 26, 2022 @ 12:00 AM

Ruth and Bill Baker Art Sales Gallery

The Gibbes presents STRANDED, multi-media works by past Visiting Artist Cameron Alexander from March 25 - May 1, 2022, in the Ruth and Bill Baker Art Sales Gallery. Join the artist for a tour of the exhibit on Saturday, March 26 at 3 pm; admission free and open to the public. Exhibit Statement What would you do if you were stranded on a deserted island? Who would you pray to? What would you build? Who would you become? During the four-hundred year run of the Transatlantic Slave Trade, over five-hundred ships were lost at sea. STRANDED is a reconceptualization of this historical phenomenon. Gleaning inspiration from the harbor in which we arrived and the Orishas of Yorubaland, Cameron Alexander depicts scenes particular to the cast away genre—chiefly isolation, survival, remembrance, and homegoing. Themes of motherhood inundate the collection, harkening back to our first home. Where we find security—whether in family, in religion, in spirituality, or in our dreams—is the poignant question at the heart of STRANDED. About the Artist Cameron Alexander is a self-taught artist from Goose Creek, SC. Previously an artist-in-residence at The Gibbes Museum of Art, they have exhibited their work at Nefelibata, The Sparks Exhibition at Public Works and the Columbia Museum of Art. They mythologize black history through the mediums of block printing, painting and cyanotype. Their art is a primal form of remembrance, guided by mystical precepts present in the Yoruba religion and their dreams. While paying homage to the bond of family, they also strive to honor the singularity of the individual. Are we alone in our distinctiveness? The past is not lost to us. The future is ours. “Anything past the horizon is invisible, it can only be imagined. You want to see the future but you only see the sky.” — Richard Silken, Road Music. Alexander hopes to invoke a curiosity in those who can only see the horizon.