The Caribbean Museum Center for the Arts in downtown Frederiksted, St. Croix, is proud to partner with STX Pride for this year’s June Pride Month events. As a continued ally of the LGBTQ+ community, the museum will host its annual Pride Art Exhibition, opening Saturday from 4 to 7 p.m.
As the lead for the series, “Dialogues on Freedom,” this Pride exhibition showcases artists from the V.I. LGBTQ+ community. “We are honored to support everyone in their creative endeavors rooted in freedom of expression through the arts for all,” CMCArts Executive Director Lisa Mordhorst announced.
The series “Dialogues on Freedom” celebrates events throughout the past: Emancipation Day, July 3, and Independence Day, July 4, where people have fought for and won freedoms.
“Our goal at CMCArts is to weave those dialogues with the threads of future freedoms: How do we maintain freedom? Do we fully experience freedom? How do we secure freedoms for future generations?” Mordhorst shared.
“Freedom can be taken away more easily than it is won,” Mordhorst said. “If we take our freedoms for granted, we risk losing them. We are intentionally choosing to explore themes of freedom every summer to ensure it is alive for today and for the future,” Mordhorst added.
The participating artists have accompanying messages that speak to their art practices, the artwork that was selected for the exhibition and their individual thoughts on freedom. Historical context to freedom; journeys of the mind in search of freedom of the self; political and social constructs that present as false freedoms; and identity as freedom are some of the messages the artists have considered.
Mordhorst is joined by Cane Roots Art Gallery owner Sonia Nahar Deane as they co-curate the exhibition. It is with their dedication to the project of the memories and great respect for their loved ones lost and with them today, who are honored and part of the LGBTQ+ community.
“It is my first time co-curating with an arts organization,” said Deane. The CMCArts gallery is a big space and the beauty of the project is that Lisa and I brought our own styles to the exhibit, yet we agreed with mutual ideas that allowed the art to flow in a very comfortable setting. We had very healthy discussions about what we could bring to the exhibit, Deane shared.
It was a very empowering experience for Deane and she felt very comfortable in the initial undertaking of speaking with the artists and asking them to participate, she said.
Deane shared her high school experience with a dear friend who was a member of the LGBTQ+ community and had a big struggle with his family because of his identity. The two enjoyed a loving friendship for many years and eventually lost contact, and Deane has chosen to honor his memory in this exhibit. “If David was alive, he would feel so good to know that these artists have come together to create within the freedom of their own identities,” Deane said.
There are 10 artists exhibiting, with some artists showing one piece while other artists are showing up to four pieces of their work.
“We celebrate the right for our LGBTQ+ family and friends to be themselves and to live full lives; because after everything, they are human. We are all human. So, today we honor people. People who worked hard and the people who live today who continue to work hard to make positive contributions to this society and this planet. And just like you and I, they were and are people who want to be free. Freedom is part of the human condition. We all live. We all breathe. We all wake up in the morning. We all want to be free,” Mordhorst shared.
The annual Pride Art Exhibition is on display in the upstairs gallery until Saturday, June 28.
Museum hours: Tuesday – Saturday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Offerings on opening night are music, bites and a cash bar.
For more information:
cmcarts.org
Please call: 340-772-2622
