Artist Activation & Reception | Mary Graham - Value Test: Brown Paper

The opening reception of Value Test: Brown Paper featuring spoken-word activations by devorah major, Tonya Foster, Tureeda Mikell, and Rhodessa Jones, followed by a discussion of the work with Emerging Artist Program awardee Mary Graham, in conversation with art historian and professor Dr. Jacqueline Francis.
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About the Exhibition
Value Test: Brown Paper is an exhibition of portraits depicting fictional Black women rendered in oil on brown paper bags. The eponymous “paper bag tests” were historically conducted amongst the Black upper classes to gauge entry into elite spaces, granting access only to those lighter than the brown paper. Through this work Graham reflects on colorism, classism, and power, and their roots in white supremacy.
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With colorism’s continued prevalence in the contemporary as both an internalized and systemic phenomenon, she attempts in this work to foster conversation, reconciliation, and a level of inter-communal healing. Rooted in an African-American spiritual tradition, Graham's work begins with the veneration of her own lineage, expanding to encompass themes of generational love, collective human origin, and our relationship to the unknown. Graham works primarily in figuration and portraiture, and is also a classically trained vocalist.
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This program is presented in conjunction with the exhibition Value Test: Brown Paper on view at MoAD March 27, 2024-May 19, 2024.