In-Person

Take Me As I Am: Redemption and Grace for the Discarded (October 24 - December 5)

Wed Nov 20, 2024 12:00 p.m.—4:00 p.m.
Artwork of bull and other images
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Free; no registration required
https://ism.yale.edu/events/2024-10-24-take-me-as-i-am-redemption-and-grace-for-the-discarded
Miller Hall
406 Prospect Street New Haven, CT 06511
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  • General Public

Take Me As I Am: Redemption And Grace for the Discarded is an art exhibit premiering new mixed media works detailing the fight to preserve Houston’s historic Third Ward neighborhood by contemporary Southern artist Lance Flowers. The title “Take Me As I Am,” is a reference to the hymn from the late 19th century. The title is also a spot on description of Flowers’ artistic practice. His process leads him to seek out and repurpose found materials once deemed trash or an “eyesore” to tell vivid allegories steeped in Southern tradition.

Gentrification is a persistent battle in Houston’s underserved communities. Besides being a predominantly Black neighborhood nestled within prime real estate, Third Ward has given birth to some of the most diverse talent Houston has to offer. Despite its cultural impact, the neighborhood still weathers a constant onslaught of land grabs, illegal dumps, inflation, resource deprivations and political trickery. Within Third Ward’s district lines lie sprawling homes, shotgun row houses, and low-income projects all cohabiting and thriving to some degree. It is a delicate ecosystem that has found resilience despite bouts with violent crime, drug abuse, climate disruptions, and economic downturn.

Third Ward is propelled by more than money. Its rich spiritual diversity is the key factor to the neighborhood narrative. Third Ward is teaming with spiritual practitioners of many faiths and beliefs. This spiritual centering coupled with community introspection is what ultimately creates a harmonious melding among its residents. Take Me As I Am provides a fresh outlook on community, religion, and African Americans through a series of works highlighting Third Ward’s diverse cultural and spiritual engagement. This exhibit informs and provides new insights to help Yale and the broader public better understand, interact, and create solutions for our ever-changing world.

Free and open to the public.

Exhibition curated by Robert Hodge.

This exhibition will be on view at the Yale Institute of Sacred Music’s Miller Hall at 406 Prospect Street, New Haven from October 24-December 5 on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays from 12-4 p.m., except for Thursday, November 28 when the ISM is closed for the Thanksgiving holiday. Sponsored by the Institute of Sacred Music’s Religion, Ecology, and Expressive Culture Initiative.

All are welcome to join us for an opening reception for this art exhibit on Wednesday, October 23 at 5 p.m. View details here.

Art credit: Lance Flowers: Trismegistas And Friends, (Thrice Great) (2024)

Contact: Anesu Nyamupingidza

Artist Bios

Lance Flowers

Lance Flowers is a Southern American Artist occupying the intersections of anti and multidisciplinary practice. Through this adit, he arrives at compelling observations spurred by a compendium of data analysis, sustainable procurement, and a well versed first-hand account of the Black American Experience. Flowers reinvigorated collage in Texas at the inception of his career and gained attention from renowned curator Valerie Cassel Oliver. He has also produced audio work that inspired collaborations with contemporary powerhouse Rodney McMillian. At present, Flowers’ modus operandi interlinks sculpture, painting, and digital performance with other new media. His command of spatial description reflects universal truths beyond social engineering and hyperreality. Flowers also remains committed to activism, spiritual exploration, and the retelling of allegories steeped in Southern tradition. His latest offering is an amalgamation of these elements transfixed on Houston’s historic Third Ward.

Flowers’ works have featured prominently in Third Ward, including Project Row Houses’ Round 30, the Houston Arts Alliance-funded solo “Most Improved” for the Community Artists’ Collective, and the inaugural exhibit “Six Degrees of Separation” at the famed Eldorado Ballroom. He was spotlighted in the Rutgers University Samuel DeWitt Proctor Institute’s “Reframing Black Art.” Flowers received an MFAH 5A “Best Show” award and he was honored by Texas Southern University for his philanthropic commitments. His visual works are collected both nationally and internationally. In 2023 he was considered for the Toni Beauchamp Prize in Critical Art Writing in addition Flowers’ audio work resides in permanent collection at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

Robert Hodge

Robert Hodge is a multidisciplinary artist and curator based in Houston, Texas. His oeuvre celebrates resilience and reclamation through poignant commemorations of African American cultural icons, firmly rooted in the extensive continuum of African American history and cultural expression. Hodge’s collage-based creations skillfully juxtapose urban detritus and found objects with cut-out images, lyrics, and other signifiers of the African American experience. This synthesis generates a duality of meaning, transforming fragments of everyday life into potent conduits of artistic expression. His innovative techniques—cutting, sewing, scorching, and painting—dissolve the boundaries between his reclaimed materials and the traditions he evokes, suggesting alternative pathways through the intricate “layer cake” of African American history.

Hodge’s work has been showcased in numerous prestigious galleries and museums both nationally and internationally, including the SCHIRN in Frankfurt, Germany, the Baltimore Museum of Art, the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, and the Carnegie Museum of Art. Presently, Hodge’s artwork is featured in the exhibition “The Culture: Hip Hop and Contemporary Art in the 21st Century” at the Cincinnati Museum of Art.