Ringing The Alarm

Guild Hall is pleased to announce “Ring the Alarm… A Conversation with Sanford Biggers and Renee Cox,” a free virtual program on October 20, at 5 p.m.

The idea for the program began with discussions on an exhibition of Black artists that Cox will be curating for Guild Hall in the summer of 2023. The first in the series was a conversation with Derrick Adams and Renee Cox, both noted artists, colleagues and friends who have a long history of exhibiting work and curating exhibitions that focus on empowerment, the Black experience, and issues of contemporary life.

Sanford Biggers is the next artist to engage in the “Ring the Alarm” series of conversations. Biggers’ work is an interplay of narrative, perspective and history that speaks to current social, political and economic happenings while also examining the contexts that bore them. His diverse practice positions him as a collaborator with the past through explorations of often overlooked cultural and political narratives from American history. Working with antique quilts that echo rumors of their use as signposts on the Underground Railroad, he engages these legends and contributes to this narrative by drawing and painting directly onto them. In response to ongoing occurrences of police brutality against Black Americans, Biggers’ "BAM" series is composed of bronze sculptures recast from fragments of wooden African statues that have been anonymized through dipping in wax and then ballistically “resculpted.’

“The need for open dialogue on art, race and politics felt timely and something that we believe the community at large was looking for,” noted Christina Strassfield, Guild Hall Museum director and chief curator. “The response to that first talk was truly inspiring and we plan to continue this series of conversations next year and leading up to the 2023 summer exhibition.”

To access the program, visit guildhall.org.