In Conversation: Rodney McMillian and Anthony Elms

Schedule

Sat Oct 04 2025 at 02:00 pm to 03:30 pm

UTC-07:00

Location

Henry Art Gallery | Seattle, WA

Advertisement
Join artist Rodney McMillian and guest curator Anthony Elms for an in-depth conversation about Rodney McMillian: Neighbors at the Henry.
About this Event

Presented during the opening weekend of at the Henry, join Rodney McMillian and guest curator Anthony Elms for an in-depth conversation about the exhibition, which explores themes of estrangement, landscape, and the lingering effects of physical, political, and social violence. 

Across sculpture, painting, and video works, McMillian’s Neighbors examines the visible and invisible forces that shape the body politic, particularly in the lives of African Americans. For McMillian, as for so many in the U.S., the past is never past. It is a fertilizer that feeds and cultivates the country we must tend to every day. 

Hear directly from the artist and curator about the process of developing this exhibition, with time for questions at the end. 


Bios

Rodney McMillian works with the intersections of power, race, class, and culture in paintings, sculptures, installations, video, and performance. He uses political texts and found, often domestic, materials such as house paint, cast-off furniture, fabric, and thrifted bedsheets, among others, to create works that trace these intersections in our everyday landscape. McMillian has exhibited widely, including the 2008 and 2022 Whitney Biennials; the 2021 Prospect.5 New Orleans: Yesterday You Said Tomorrow; and the 2015 Sharjah Biennial. He received Contemporary Austin’s initial Suzanne Deal Booth Art Prize in 2016, and the resulting solo exhibition Against a Civic Death was on view in 2018. Solo exhibitions have been staged at the Blaffer Museum, Houston, Texas; the Underground Museum, Los Angeles; the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; the Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia; the Studio Museum in Harlem; MoMA PS.1, New York; and the Aspen Art Museum, Colorado. His work has also been included in group exhibitions at The National Portrait Gallery, London; MASS MoCA, North Adams, MA; the CCA Wattis Institute, San Francisco, CA; the Astrup Fearnley Museet, Oslo, Norway; the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston; the Contemporary Art Museum Houston; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; the UCLA Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; the Renaissance Society at the University of Chicago; and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, among many others. His work is included in the collections of the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; the Museum of Modern Art, New York; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco; Stadtisches Museum Abteiberg, Monchengladbach, Germany; and The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York. McMillian received an MFA from the California Institute of the Arts in 2002; he is currently a professor in sculpture at the University of California, Los Angeles. 

Anthony Elms is a writer and curator. Formerly at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia, he organized the exhibitions Karyn Olivier: Everything That’s Alive Moves (2020), Cauleen Smith: Give It or Leave It (2018), Endless Shout (2016–17), Rodney McMillian: The Black Show (2016), Christopher Knowles: In a Word with writer Hilton Als (2015), White Petals Surround Your Yellow Heart (2013), among others. Elms’s writings have appeared in many catalogues and edited collections, as well as various periodicals. He has independently curated many exhibitions, including Whitney Biennial 2014; Interstellar Low Ways (with Huey Copeland); A Unicorn Basking in the Light of Three Glowing Suns (with Philip von Zweck); and Sun Ra, El Saturn & Chicago’s Afro-Futurist Underground, 1954–68 (with John Corbett and Terri Kapsalis). 


Accessibility

The Henry strives to be a welcoming and accessible space for all visitors. Assisted Listening Devices (ALDs) and AI-generated live captioning will be available. This program will also be live-streamed via YouTube with automated captions. For additional accessibility information, please visit henryart.org/visit/accessibility or contact Museum Services at 206.221.3850 or [email protected] with questions or needs. 

Advertisement

Where is it happening?

Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington, Seattle, United States

Event Location & Nearby Stays:

Tickets

USD 0.00

Henry Art Gallery

Host or Publisher Henry Art Gallery

It's more fun with friends. Share with friends

Discover More Events in Seattle

Seattle Spartans Game Watch: MSU @ Nebraska (Time TBD)
Sat, 04 Oct at 12:30 pm Seattle Spartans Game Watch: MSU @ Nebraska (Time TBD)

LTD Bar and Grill

NONPROFIT
OktoBEARfest
Sat, 04 Oct at 01:00 pm OktoBEARfest

5500 Phinney Ave N, Seattle, WA, United States, Washington 98103

Grain Rangoli Workshop
Sat, 04 Oct at 01:00 pm Grain Rangoli Workshop

1405 4th Ave

WORKSHOPS FESTIVALS
Girls in Gis Washington - Seattle Event
Sat, 04 Oct at 01:00 pm Girls in Gis Washington - Seattle Event

Rogue Jiu-Jitsu

NONPROFIT SPORTS
Hands Around Greenlake
Sat, 04 Oct at 02:30 pm Hands Around Greenlake

Green Lake Park, Seattle

WRG Presents SOUNDWAVS w\/ Jai Wolf
Sat, 04 Oct at 03:00 pm WRG Presents SOUNDWAVS w/ Jai Wolf

Museum of History and Industry (MOHAI)

The Breaking Chains Tour - Othello Neighborhood
Sat, 04 Oct The Breaking Chains Tour - Othello Neighborhood

7132 43rd Ave S

ART CRAFTS
Liberating Love Festival
Sat, 04 Oct at 03:00 pm Liberating Love Festival

5225 Delridge Wy SW

FESTIVALS
Belltown Art Walk
Fri, 10 Sep at 06:00 pm Belltown Art Walk

Slip Gallery

ART
CD Art Walk ONE YEAR anniversary!
Fri, 06 Sep at 06:00 pm CD Art Walk ONE YEAR anniversary!

Midtown Square

ART
First Thursday Art Walk  | Open Late
Thu, 03 Oct at 01:00 pm First Thursday Art Walk | Open Late

Gallery B612, 1st Avenue South, Seattle, WA, USA

ART EXHIBITIONS
Monthly Uptown Artwalk @  The Fishbowl
Thu, 17 Oct at 05:00 pm Monthly Uptown Artwalk @ The Fishbowl

The Fishbowl, 424 2nd Avenue West, Seattle, WA, USA

ART
Capitol Hill Art Walk @ Chophouse Row
Thu, 13 Mar at 05:00 pm Capitol Hill Art Walk @ Chophouse Row

Chophouse Row

ART MUSIC
Rat City Art Walk
Thu, 15 May at 05:00 pm Rat City Art Walk

Puffy Pandy

ART FINE-ARTS
3rd Friday Art Walk at Nook & Cranny
Fri, 20 Jun at 05:00 pm 3rd Friday Art Walk at Nook & Cranny

5637 University Wy NE

ART LITERARY-ART
Art Exhibition | This is Seattle
Sat, 13 Sep at 11:00 am Art Exhibition | This is Seattle

Gallery B612, 1st Avenue South, Seattle, WA, USA

ART EXHIBITIONS
Fall Design Day 2025
Tue, 30 Sep at 09:30 am Fall Design Day 2025

Seattle Design Center

ART
Small Frye: Storytelling + Art
Wed, 01 Oct at 10:15 am Small Frye: Storytelling + Art

Frye Art Museum

ART STORYTELLING
Cochise
Wed, 01 Oct at 04:00 pm Cochise

Madame Lou's

Free First Thursday
Thu, 02 Oct at 10:00 am Free First Thursday

2655 NW Market St, 98107

EXHIBITIONS

What's Happening Next in Seattle?

Discover Seattle Events