Art and Artifact: Murals from the Minneapolis Uprising

On May 25, 2020 George Floyd was murdered by Minneapolis police on the street outside the Cup Foods convenience store at the intersection of 38th Street E. and Chicago Ave. Days of protests and unrest followed. During the uprising, business owners across the Twin Cities began to cover their storefronts with sheets of plywood which were soon turned into powerful messages and murals by artists, protestors, and community. The Cities were in turmoil and the urban landscape was transformed into a living visual chronicle of the moment.

During this time, Leesa Kelly founded Memorialize the Movement and began collecting and preserving these murals as businesses took them down. Memorialize the Movement has collected over 1,000 panels of plywood over the last four years and continues to do so today, along with exhibiting these murals for the purpose of keeping George Floyd's memory and the story of the uprising alive and fresh in people's minds. 

The Katherine E. Nash Gallery, in association with Memorialize the Movement, presents Art and Artifact: Murals from the Minneapolis Uprising, curated by Amira McLendon, a former Intern of Memorialize the Movement and the Katherine E. Nash Gallery. The exhibition features a selection of the murals from Memorialize the Movement's collection. Art and Artifact is the largest gallery exhibition of the murals to be presented since they were created and is Amira McLendon’s curatorial debut. Her goal for the exhibition is to encourage people to reflect on where we are now, as we approach the fifth year since George Floyd's murder. 

Exhibition Catalogue

The Katherine E. Nash Gallery has published a catalogue of the exhibition, including 100 full-page color images of the murals and essays by Leslie Guy, Leesa Kelly, Amira McLendon, and Seph Rodney. The catalogue is distributed worldwide by the University of Minnesota Press. This is the first publication devoted to the murals.

Sponsorship

Art and Artifact: Murals from the Minneapolis Uprising is made possible with the generous support provided by the Associate Dean for Art and Humanities, College of Liberal Arts; College of Liberal Arts Public Engagement; the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, College of Liberal Arts; the Department of American Studies, the Department of History; The Imagine Fund Special Events Award; the Institute for Advanced Study; Minnesota Transform: A Mellon Foundation Just Futures Project at the University of Minnesota; The Givens Foundation for African American Literature; Harlan Boss Foundation for the Arts; Stuart and Kate Nielsen; Rosalie O’Brien; and an anonymous donor.

Public Program and Reception

Saturday, September 14, 2024
6:00 pm Program with Leslie Guy, Seitu Jones, Leesa Kelly, and Amira McLendon
7:00 – 9:00 pm Reception
The program and reception are free and open to the public.
Seating for the program is first-come, first-served. Auditorium doors open at 5:30 pm.

Book Launch

The event will feature presentations by Leesa Kelly, Founding Director of Memorialize the Movement, exhibition curator Amira McLendon, and artist Seitu Jones. The event is co-sponsored by The Givens Foundation for African American Literature and The Loft Literary Center. Milkweed Books will have copies of the book available for purchase. 

The exhibition catalogue is published by the Katherine E. Nash Gallery operated by the Department of Art at the University of Minnesota, in association with Memorialize the Movement, and distributed worldwide by the University of Minnesota Press. The book was recently reviewed by Hyperallergic. 

Related Exhibitions: Viewfinders/ Miradores and Layers of Joy 

Image: Community-created mural based on Blues for George stencil by artist Seitu Jones, 2020, Springboard for the Arts, St. Paul, 96 x 116 in. Photo: Easton M. Green.