Between 1953, when Dawoud Bey was born, and 1989, when John Edmonds was born, the U.S. reckoned with racism and violence on a grand scale. In 1954, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that state-sanctioned segregation in public schools was unconstitutional. In 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his immortal “I Have a Dream” speech. In 1968, King was assassinated. Two months later, Robert F. Kennedy, a champion of civil rights, was assassinated. Protests ensued. On the occasion of another nationwide reckoning, this exhibition juxtaposes the work of Black American artists Bey, Edmonds, and Wardell Milan, who was born between the others, in 1977. A common theme is photography. Another is the visual representation of the Black American experience over time. —J.V.

Dawoud Bey, John Edmonds, Wardel Milan
Art Gallery of Ontario
317 Dundas St W, Toronto, ON M5T 1G4, Canada
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