In June 2019 Alabama-born, Minneapolis-based artist Tia-Simone Gardner began researching four homes in Alabama and Mississippi (Meridian/Philadelphia) that were inhabited by her mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother. Gardner made a public presentation and trips to Birmingham and East Mississippi. Gardner’s work will culminate as an artist book of essays and images. This is part of the artist’s ongoing study of …
Have you seen our new space? Since 2014 we developed one of our two downtown storefronts. Co-Directors Emeritus Shana Berger and Nathan Purath imagined them as venues for collaboration between local makers, contemporary artists, area citizens, professionals, and students. In the winter of 2016, Pop Start’s HVAC system failed precipitating the space’s already planned renovation. Through support from the …
January 18, 2019 Filmmaker Fraser Jones and members of the Black Belt Citizens Fighting for Health and Justice shared Uniontown, a documentary film that weaves together the untold narratives of local heroes in nearby Perry County. The long-silenced southern city is continuously polluted with industrial waste and environmental racism according to devoted residents. Driven by the story of Esther Calhoun, a community …