A CACTUS SPROUTS from a rounded ceramic pot, suggesting resilience, while two side handles shaped like a woman and a man with earphones embody culture, strength, and fertility. In Paula Wilson’s mixed-media work New Development (2012), a New Mexico landscape recedes from the pot’s center, as if looking through a window into clouded skies over mountains and winding paths. In the foreground, a tall figure and a sitting pet gaze into the landscape, inviting reflection on hope and possibilities.
As one of 28 contributors to Truth, Memory, Joy, Resistance: Black Expressions in New Mexico at the Community Gallery in Santa Fe, the Carrizozo artist offers her own complex vision of the Black experience in the Land of Enchantment.
“We really did invite the artists to show up how they wanted to show up for this exhibition,” says Jakia Fuller, who co-curated the exhibition with Aaron Payne. Together, they gathered a roster of contributors that includes Zero Bey, Nikesha Breeze, Karen Hampton, Tintawi Kaigziabiher, Louie Perea, and Gwen Triay Samuels. “We really didn’t limit people or try to put them in a box.”
Paula Wilson’s mixed-media work “New Development” (2012).
Photograph courtesy of the City of Santa Fe Community Gallery.
Wilson’s layered pieces, which often include sculpture, printmaking, collage, and fashion, encapsulate the essence of New Mexico and the diverse experiences within it. “[She] does a really beautiful job,” Fuller says, “showing that container of what New Mexico is and what that experience is that you have while living here.”
Within the 1,200-square-foot gallery, located next to the Santa Fe Community Convention Center, intimate nested spaces display poetic text, expressive quilts, and textured fabrics. Colorful paper flowers and lush greenery contrast with muted shades of browns and azures, while black-and-gray photography provides grounding. The serenity of the space is disrupted by the chaotic sounds of an auto-playing short film that documents police officers breaking a Black family’s car window during a traffic stop.
Karsten Creightney’s four-color lithograph, 12th & Resilience (2019), depicts clouded blue skies over a highway off-ramp and two white crosses on dry grass, flanked by streetlights and traffic signs. Flowers and a girl in a brown-plaid collared shirt, shown from the shoulders up, are also featured; her textured hair styled in a bun.
“This show itself is a collage of many different artists, ages, sensibilities, and backgrounds,” Payne says, drawing parallels to Creightney’s work. “When a collage works, it’s because [it all comes] together in a way that creates something greater than the individual pieces.”
Artwork on view at “Truth, Memory, Joy, Resistance” at the City of Santa Fe Community Gallery.
Photograph courtesy of the City of Santa Fe Community Gallery.
Vibrant shades of orange, copper, and colorful pastels are complemented by soft pinks and striking reds across numerous forms of media throughout the exhibition. While visually bold, they also symbolize the artists’ rich and diverse narratives, enhancing the overall theme of cultural expression.
As visitors move toward the front of the gallery, distinctive stoneware lines the windows facing Marcy Street. The pieces draw one’s gaze outward, connecting the exhibition with the real world, New Mexico’s rich cultural history, and the importance of representation, particularly of Black artists.
Truth, Memory, Joy, Resistance serves as a platform for exploring complex identities and experiences within New Mexico’s Black community. On view through February 28, the exhibition encourages artists to push beyond traditional boundaries, expressing unique personal narratives that impact local art and culture.
“It’s really important that all of these people are from this community,” Payne adds. “They’re all alive, and they’re all working artists.”
