vanessa german’s Shrine to Forgotten Black Girls

Hyperallergic reviewed vanessa german’s exhibition “…do you remember when you were the sky?” at Louisville’s Speed Art Museum, created as part of the Sam Gilliam Visiting Artist Program. The show draws on german’s research into the Louisville Industrial School of Reform’s Colored Girls Dormitory, established in 1896, and a 1913 nighttime escape attempt by incarcerated Black girls whose stories might otherwise have been erased. The review describes four-to-five-foot-tall assemblage figures and wall works made from found materials such as ceramic teacups, glass bottles, beads, ribbons, yarn, textiles, keys, coins, cowrie shells, porcelain figurines, and child-size boxing gloves. It also notes that the project included a three-day participatory performance series held last October and highlights sculptural characters like “The Girl Who Had The Idea” and “The Girl Who Lit The Path,” which narrate the planning and execution of the escape.

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