Intricate Blackness: A Talk with Lamar Gayles, Jr. at NYC Jewelry Week 2024

“Intricate Blackness” is an exhibition that highlights the craftsmanship, cultural significance, and personal stories embedded in jewelry created by Black American artisans of the 20th Century. The works on view will be exhibited alongside microscopic images and results from other scientific analysis to reveal the intricate details of fabrication, use, and wear, demonstrating how the techniques and materials used reflect aspects of Black identities.

On Tuesday morning at 10am, Curator LaMar R. Gayles Jr. will discuss how science can be a tool to think about jewelry in more complex ways, focusing on the preservation of Black American jewelry and his recent findings and discoveries. A reception will follow.

LaMar Gayles (a native son of the South Side of Chicago) is an independent curator, material culture scholar, and technical art historian. He is currently a candidate in the PhD program in Preservation Studies at the University of Delaware. Gayles has researched and curated exhibitions on Black American material culture and its historical progressions from the seventeenth century to the twenty-first century. Gayles’s research methodology combines archaeometry, arts-based research, conservation science, art historical analysis, ethnography, historical reproduction, and technical studies to explore material and visual culture.

The Jewelry Library (TJL) is a collaborative space curated for jewelry people by jewelry people. Founded in 2018, TJL hosts a wide range of exhibitions, talks, and events all across the jewelry-spectrum, collaborating with both contemporary and vintage gallerists, artists, and collectors, as well as storytellers, historians, makers, and wearers. Along with an archive, library, and gallery space–which houses the TJL collection of books and jewelry–there is a penthouse space, The Great Room @ The Jewelry Library, for larger community gatherings. In early 2025, TJL will be opening a multi-faceted ground floor space in the Chelsea-Nomad neighborhood.

Each November, NYC Jewelry Week proudly presents ‘The Week,’ a 7-day celebration dedicated to the art of jewelry. This annual event invites a global audience to explore the world of jewelry through a dynamic mix of in-person and virtual experiences, spanning New York City and beyond.

Host or Publisher NYC Jewelry Week