Whitfield Lovell

Michèle Wije is curator at the American Federation of Arts. Bridget Cooks is associate professor in the Departments of African American Studies and Art History, University of California, Irvine. Cheryl Finley is inaugural director of the Atlanta University Center Art History and Curatorial Studies Collective; a distinguished visiting professor at Spelman College; and associate professor of art history at Cornell University.

"Over 350 objects are on display in Deep River and Visitation alone, every item meticulously inventoried, labelled and packed into crates by the exhibition’s organizer, American Federation of Arts, and Lovell’s gallery, DC Moore, to support the show’s national tour. The meticulously physical back-and-forth process is how the artist honors the person’s memory and existence, applying the charcoal, rubbing it with his fingers to achieve the right tone, then erasing some to create highlights. “Whitfield Lovell: Passages,” debuted at the Boca Raton Museum of Art on February 15 and will remain on view there through May 21, 2023, before embarking on a national tour for the next two years. A handsome catalogue accompanies the exhibition." —Forbes"It is not often that the opening of a traveling museum exhibition — years, if not decades, in the making — is so well-timed that the curators and artists behind it might evince clairvoyancy. Yet that is clearly the case with Whitfield Lovell: Passages, a landmark show debuting at the Boca Raton Museum of Art, which brings together a suite of monumental installations by the artist that beckon viewers to contemplate the larger human quest for equality and the pursuit of a better life — aspirations that transcend time and geography. And while the work in the exhibition was created over the course of three decades, it has immediacy and resonance in the politically charged environment in which we find ourselves in this moment. An accompanying volume, Whitfield Lovell: Passages, is published by Rizzoli Electa." —Avenue