City to partner with Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History and Detroit Public Library on celebrated artist Sabrina Nelson’s landmark exhibition opening on the 100th birthday of iconic American writer James Baldwin
- Nelson to launch Detroit leg of her year-long, traveling exhibit: Frontline Prophet: James Baldwin at the Wright on August 2, 2024
- Detroit ACE to sponsor James Baldwin Little Sidewalk Libraries across the city
The City Office of Arts, Culture and Entrepreneurship (Detroit ACE) will partner with veteran Detroit creative Sabrina Nelson, the Charles Wright Museum of African American History and the Detroit Public Library on a celebration of the 100th birthday of the late American writer and civil rights activist James Baldwin, who garnered acclaim for his essays, novels, plays, and poems and whose 1953 novel Go Tell It on the Mountain has been ranked among the best English-language novels ever written.
The exhibition opens on August 2 with an invite-only VIP reception and a public reception. The exhibition will be on display until February 28, 2025. To register for the exhibition, visit: https://www.thewright.org/exhibitions/frontline-prophet-james-baldwin.
As part of the celebration, Detroit ACE and the Detroit Public Library will co-sponsor 10 James Baldwin Little Sidewalk Libraries across the city that feature books by and about Baldwin. The Sidewalk libraries are designed to give Detroiters a chance to “borrow” a Baldwin book and read it. Or residents can leave some of their own Baldwin books.
Included in special, exhibition-related programming that launches in August is a conversation between Nelson and her son, noted artist Mario Moore, entitled "Legacy and Lineage: Exploring James Baldwin Across Generations.” That event will be 7 p.m. Wednesday, August 21. It is free and open to the public.
The “Frontline Prophet: James Baldwin” exhibition was created by Nelson and co-curated by Ashara Ekundayo and Omo Misha. Ekundayo, is an interdisciplinary, independent curator, culture worker, artist and founder of Artist As First Responder. Omo Misha is a Detroit and New York-based curator and arts administrator, who has served numerous New York institutions, including the United Nations, CHRISTIE’S and City College Center for the Arts, while operating Detroit’s Irwin House Gallery as a place for the development of emerging talent and the strengthening of connection between the creative communities of Detroit and Harlem.
Nelson, a professional interdisciplinary artist for more than 37 years, kicked off a year-long celebration of Baldwin by launching the Frontline Prophet: James Baldwin in New York’s Harlem neighborhood in 2023. The exhibition highlights the artist’s deeply personal perspectives on the iconic writer and includes works from a seven-year sketchbook study as well as works on paper and canvas and projected video installations.
Nelson, in more than 40 unique depictions of Baldwin and his contemporaries, presents imagery and text culled from the lectures, writings, and social-political themes that were highlights of Baldwin’s work on critical culture, identity, race and sexuality.
In her nearly four years of creating, Nelson has exhibited across the Midwest and in Florida, New York, Louisiana, California and Paris, France. She uses multiple styles – from painting, drawing and sculpture, to performance art.
Nelson also is a lecturer and ‘artivist,’ which means she uses her art as a medium for activism. She has worked for Detroit’s College for Creative Studies for 27 years, teaching African American Art History. She also has served on the Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp faculty and been a guest curator for the Carr Center and the Detroit Music Hall Performing Arts Center. She earned her BFA in Fine Arts from CCS in 1991. She was 2021-2022 Kresge Arts Fellow, and her work was featured on PBS in 2020 & 2022.
About Detroit ACE
Detroit ACE is the City’s Office of Arts, Culture and Entrepreneurship, which oversees the City of Detroit’s investment in the fine and performing arts, culture and history with a special focus on support and increased opportunities for the city’s creative workforce. For the next year, ACE is focusing on the performing arts: theatre, dance, music and film. Follow ACE on Instagram and Twitter.