Memphis artist creates exhibition to start dialogue about racism

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MEMPHIS, Tenn. In a new exhibit, an artist from Memphis wants to get people talking about racism, not just in Memphis but across America.

Walking around Urevbu Contemporary in downtown Memphis is a journey through the racism in this country. No prohibited subject, including religion and politics.

Are we hiding behind Christianity, or are we hiding behind the very foundation of this country? said gallery visitor Sheneka Williams.

Artist Ephraim Urevbu has titled this solo exhibition The Naked Truth: An American Story in White, Red And Blue, displaying the truth about racism as he sees it on canvases.

The main reason we don’t commit to each other is because we’re not ready to hear the truth, Urevbu said.

He started working on this collection in 2017, and he discovered that by painting, art caught up with him. It was catching up with real life.

So when Ferguson came in I decided maybe I could do something, Urevbu said. What can I do? I felt too old to demonstrate, but I have a tool. I have a gift which is my art.

When the protesters took to the streets, Urevbu picked up his brushes and got to work. His art did not only imitate life, but sometimes the images appearing on the canvas before actual events.

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In one painting, the subject looks remarkably like George Floyd, but Urevbu completed it in 2019, before Floyd became a household name after he died at the knee of a Minneapolis police officer.

George Floyd arrived last year, right? I had finished this part and it was in stock. I released this piece two weeks ago and I was like, “oh my gosh. His face is right on this piece, Urevbu said. But who knew about George Floyd when I did?

Only a sample of the exhibition hangs in his small downtown gallery. There are 55 pieces in all. The full show heads to Belmont University in Nashville in August, and then to other colleges across the country.

The president of the University of Memphis, Dr David Rudd, attended the pre-opening of the exhibition and said that she would return to Memphis so that every painting can also be on display here.

In fact, we’re having a race relations in America symposium in September where we’re unveiling an MLK speech that was offered to us and that will take place in September, Rudd said. I asked Ephraim if we could bring in the show at that time.

Rudd sees the exhibition as an educational tool creating dialogue, discussion and debate.

My hope is that you, me and everyone who sees the show will be forced to respond in one way or another, Urevbu said, and by responding we could perhaps begin the healing process.

The exhibit will be at the gallery until July 30, but Rudd says the university is working to bring it back to Memphis.

Rudd has also said he would like Urevbu to return to the University of Memphis as an artist in residence for a year. Urevbu is an alumnus of the university.

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