Katrina Andry: Over There and Here is Me and Me / Colin Quashie: Linked

Opening: August 23, 6:30–8pm
Free for members and CofC community. 5 USD for all others. 

Artist talk: Katrina Andry: August 24, 2–3pm 
Katrina Andry will speak about her work inside the galleries 

Colin Quashie in conversation with Frank Martin: September 5, 6:30–7:30pm
Colin Quashie speaks with Frank C. Martin, the Linked exhibition essayist 

Colin Quashie in conversation with Kali Holloway: October 1, 6:30–7:30pm
Holloway and Quashie speak about his works’ connection to efforts to remove Confederate monuments 

Halsey Talks: Art & Activism: October 29, 6:30pm
Guest speaker: Kali Holloway of the Make It Right Project 

Curator-led tour: December 5, 6–7pm
Guided exhibition tour with the curators 

Katrina Andry: Over There and Here is Me and Me 
The work of Katrina Andry probes the power structures of race-based stereotypes. For her exhibition at the Halsey Institute, Andry will explore the stereotypes that engender gentrification. Using printmaking and installation, she creates visceral images that beckon viewers to examine their own preconceived notions of society. As Charleston’s neighborhoods are rapidly changing in multifarious ways, this exhibition will provide a springboard for community-wide conversations on gentrification.

Andry’s work explores the negative effects of stereotypes on the lives of Black people and how these stereotypes give rise to biased laws and ideologies in our society. Her large-scale prints confront the viewer with these derogatory cultural clichés. The figures in the prints represent those who are targeted by racist characterizations. However, Andry specifically uses non-minority figures in this role to illustrate the fact that stereotypes are unjustly perpetuated. Stereotypes are neither based in truth nor innate characteristics of a specific person, instead, they are ideas forced onto a group of people as a whole. Portraying entire populations in a negative light, stereotypes confer on the perpetuator an impression of superiority and a greater sense of normalcy.

For her exhibition at the Halsey Institute, Andry will create a new body of prints, as well as a new wallpaper installation. Katrina Andry: Over There and Here is Me and Me is supported in part by SC Humanities and The Henry and Sylvia Yaschik Foundation.

Colin Quashie: Linked
Colin Quashie creates images that comment on contemporary racial stereotypes. Combining historical relics and artifacts with icons from past and present popular culture, Quashie sharply critiques the way people of color are portrayed in modern visual culture. Using his signature caustic wit, he blends images to allow viewers to more fully explore how images of African Americans and Black culture are constructed today.

In his latest series, called Linked, Quashie juxtaposes images of well-known Black figures with other representations of artifacts to comment on stereotypes as they exist today. In Gabriel, Quashie tweaks an image of Louie Armstrong, updating his signature trumpet with a set of slave shackles. Similarly, in Rose Colored, he creates an image of Harriet Tubman donning a pair of rose-colored glasses, referencing the abolitionist’s view of slaveholders, for whom she still held a level of empathy. With these works, Quashie teases out underlying stereotypes, exposing them for all to see more plainly.