BURNOUT AND BLACK ARTISTS: Emotional Sustainability in the Arts

Exhibition opens January 25th and reception night is Janaury 31st at 5:30 pm.

All our welcome to our first exhibition of 2025!

Performance by Sasa African Dance Theater featured.

When the term “Black Art” is used, there is often the connotation and implication that the art will also, in some way, pertain to Black pain, Black suffering, and the generational trauma that comes from being a Black American. While these themes have their place in the greater artistic landscape of Black Art, Black pain becoming synonymous with Black art also means that Black artists now have the expectation and pressure to continuously dredge their own individual pain, and the collective trauma from the diaspora, if they wish to maintain a level of notoriety and success in the art world. What toll does this take, emotionally, mentally, and physically, to largely be seen as your trauma? Burnout seeks to highlight the institutional struggles Black artists have historically faced within the art world, as well as the more modern celebration of Black artists via their pain, and discuss how this relates to their relationship with the status of “artist”, how this has impacted them in the long-run, and what steps can be taken to make the world of art a space that welcomes the full extent of the Black experience, not just the pain.

"I Am Refreshed" artwork by Holly Forbes

Host or Publisher ArtServe