Edges of Ailey

Sept 25, 2024–Feb 9, 2025

Exhibition works

A colorful, abstract landscape painting with a few trees scattered across a grassy field under a yellow-orange sky.

1

Southern Imaginary

Two shirtless individuals draped in a red cloth, one looking upward with a halo-like headpiece, the other looking downward, both against a dark background.

2

Black Spirituality

Several white, two-dimensional, human-like figures placed on a backdrop of earth tone rectangles.

3

Black Migration

A vibrant, abstract artwork featuring Angela Davis composed of colorful, overlapping text and letters, with a mix of reds, yellows, and blues.

4

Black Liberation

A painting of a person in dark clothing sitting on an orange chair against a vibrant red background, with a calm and composed expression.

5

Black Women

Three dancers in colorful athletic wear and headbands perform on a dimly lit stage, with one dancer prominently in the foreground.

6

Ailey’s Collaborators

A vibrant painting depicts a bustling nighttime street scene of an African American community in an urban setting. A glowing street lamp casts a blue hue over the scene, in which a diverse group of musicians play brass instruments and tambourines, people dance, and others converse. A tall man with exaggerated features stands on a pedestal that reads "Jesus Saves," playing a trumpet. To the right, a woman in a green dress and red stilettos walks a small white dog past an elderly man with a cane. In the background, buildings with lighted windows reveal more onlookers, including a market storefront with meat hanging in the window, a house with a front porch where a woman and a child observe the scene, and an apartment building with residents peering out.

7

Black Music

The cover of a printed program for Katherine Dunham's Tropical Revue performance. A black and white photograph of two dancers, a woman and a man, adorned with flowers in the hair, collaged against a blue trapezoid.

8

Ailey’s Influences

A quilt with various panels commemorating individuals, featuring names, dates, and personal messages, including "Robert R. McGlone" and "Bill DePew."

9

After Ailey

Two dancers perform a dramatic pose; the woman in a long dress and the man shirtless, both wearing harnesses, against a minimalist backdrop.

10

Performance Program

Artists