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Join exhibition co-curator and U-M Associate Professor of History Jason Young for an exploration of the dynamic exhibition Hear Me Now: The Black Potters of Old Edgefield, South Carolina. Hear Me Now centers around the complicated history and continuing legacy of an African American ceramic tradition that emerged out of the plantation economies of Edgefield, South Carolina. As an artistic tradition rooted in the history of American slavery, the exhibition highlights the tangled histories of race, slavery and art in this country. The exhibition features historic work including monumental storage jars by the enslaved and literate potter and poet Dave, later recorded as David Drake as well as leading contemporary Black artists who have responded to or whose practice resonates with the Edgefield story. Established figures like Theaster Gates and Simone Leigh, as well as younger, emerging artists like Adebunmi Gbadebo, Woody De Othello, and Robert Pruitt, have contributed to the show. Working primarily in clay, these artists respond to the legacy of the Edgefield potters and consider the resonance of this history for audiences today.

Hear Me Now is organized by The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, with support from the Terra Foundation for American Art and the Henry Luce Foundation.

Lead support for UMMA's presentation of the exhibition is provided by Michigan Engineering, the U-M Office of the Provost, the U-M Office of the President, the Americana Foundation, the U-M College of Literature, Science, and the Arts, the U-M Inclusive History Project, and Michigan Humanities. Additional generous support is provided by Larry and Brenda Thompson and Melissa Kaish and Jonathan Dorfman.