Blackness is…The Refusal to be Reduced. at TACOMA ART MUSEUM MARCH 2023-JUNE 2026

“I stood at the border, stood at the edge and claimed it as central . l claimed it as central, and let the rest of the world move over to where I was.” ~Toni Morrison

Historically the representation of the Black figure in Western Art and literature has been centered on the objectification, exploitation, and exotification of Blackness and the Black body. Our socio-cultural inheritance and archival collections of Western Art, including the Haub Collection housed here in the TAM, would have one believe that Black people either did not exist at all in the West, or were solely shadowed figures skirting the margins of an idyllic and expansive frontier. 

This exhibition, titled, “Blackness is. . . The Refusal to be Reduced” seeks to recenter the margin, bringing to focus the unique, complex, and visceral ways contemporary Black artists in the West refuse reduction and express beauty, subtlety, resilience, and connection through their work. 

This exhibition invites us to glimpse the ways these artists are engaging with themes of memory, materiality, marginality and generational inheritance. From the delicate use of hair to weave stories of migration, to the sound of horse bones speaking of time and memory, the Black artists in this exhibition challenge the traditional boundaries of Western Art through their poignant uses of medium, form and storytelling. 

Nikesha Breeze Guest Curator