Seeking for the Lost

Featuring portraiture by contemporary artist Christopher E. Harrison, this exhibition explores the unbreakable familial bonds expressed through ads in the St. Paul newspaper The Appeal; presents the post-Reconstruction goals of Minnesota’s Black press; and shows how literacy informed the lives of Black Americans after the Civil War. 

Organized by the African American Interpretive Center of Minnesota and curated by JoJo Bell, the exhibition elucidates the eponymous “Seeking for the Lost” column from The Appeal, a Black-owned and operated St. Paul newspaper. The column printed ads from those seeking family members who had been sold or “lost” during slavery and through the post-Reconstruction period. Informally, small ads started appearing in the paper in 1888, and in 1891 The Appeal published the ads as a permanent column. The Appeal was not the first paper to print such ads, but in this newspaper the ads were free, signaling its significant commitment to help readers find family at no cost as well as its resolve to uplift a new post-Reconstruction generation desperate to reconnect with loved ones lost to slavery.

Each painting by Christopher Harrison in the exhibition imagines what a missing subject described in “Seeking for the Lost” might have looked like. By portraying each lost family member with a distinct perspective and personality, Harrison’s art emphasizes kinship as a unifying power and literacy as a means of endurance.

Thanks to Minnesota Transform: A Just University for Just Futures for their support of this exhibition. 

About the Artist:

Christopher E. Harrison is a fine artist, public artist and designer in Minneapolis .He received his BFA in 1987 Retail Advertising from the Columbus (OH) College of Art and Design and an MFA in Studio Arts, Painting from the Art Academy University, San Francisco (CA) in 2021.

He has exhibited locally, national and internationally. His exhibitions include Nemeth Art Center (MN), the Weisman Art Museum (MN), the Duluth Art Institute (MN) Smack Mellon (NY), the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design (WI), Galerie Sobo Bade, Dakar, Senegal and the DeVos Art Museum (MI). Collections include The Minnesota Museum of American Art. Public art pieces include the City of Minneapolis, MN; Woodbury, MN; Richfield, MN. His artist grants include the Minnesota State Arts Board, the Jerome Foundation, the Elizabeth Murray Foundation Artist Residency, the Pollock Krasner Foundation, the Andy Warhol Foundation and MRAC Next Step. He is currently a Lecturer of Drawing/Painting at the University of MN-Twin Cities.

About the Curator:

Jokeda “JoJo” Bell is the Executive Director and the Director of Exhibitions and Programming for the African American Interpretive Center of Minnesota (AAICM). Her roles within the organization have led to collaborative programming with state historical institutions like the Minnesota Historical Society and the Minnesota Museum of American Art. She has also appeared as an expert in the Minnesota Historical Society’s documentary Storied: African Americans in WWI. In 2019, JoJo curated The Builders exhibition for AAICM, which was named one of the top ten art exhibitions of the year by the Star Tribune.

Currently, JoJo is a PhD student in the History department at the University of Minnesota and is writing a book scheduled for publication with Minnesota Historical Society Press on September 17, 2024.

Museum Hours:

Monday: Closed
Tuesday: Closed
Wednesday: 10:00 am-5:00 pm
Thursday: 10:00 am-5:00 pm
Friday: 10:00 am-5:00 pm
Saturday: 11:00 am-5:00 pm
Sunday: 11:00 am-5:00 pm