As part of ICI’s Curator’s Perspective–an itinerant public discussion series featuring national and international curators–Allison Glenn (Senior Curator, Public Art Fund and Co-Curator, Counterpublic Triennial 2023, St. Louis) presents on the groundbreaking exhibition Promise, Witness, Remembrance, which she guest curated at the Speed Art Museum in Louisville, KY in 2021.
Organized around Amy Sherald's portrait of Breonna Taylor, the exhibition reflected on the legacy of Taylor–who was killed by Louisville police in March of 2020–and on the nationwide demonstrations and activism for racial justice that followed through artworks and ideas that consider the symbolism of American ideologies and the histories of the United States. During a time when many arts institutions continue to reevaluate their complicity in white supremacy and anti-Black discrimination, Promise, Witness, Remembrance proposed a paradigm-shifting curatorial model that charts a path forward for museums to meaningfully engage with their communities, especially those that have been historically marginalized.
Glenn speaks about how she incorporated community engagement into curatorial work itself, developing the exhibition in close collaboration with Breonna Taylor’s family, a National Advisory panel, and a Steering Committee of Louisville-based artists, researchers, community members, activists, and mental health practitioners convened by Toya Northington, the Speed's Co-Interim Director of Education and Community Engagement Strategist. The show offers novel ways of thinking through ideas of solidarity, identity, care, positionality, and value in an institutional, and intersectional, context.