Complex Exchange features presenters and practices that reference black experience and lives of people of color from a local context. Join in this series of conversations with Seattle community members from a variety of disciplines to tackle themes inspired by the exhibition Figuring History: Robert Colescott, Kerry James Marshall, Mickalene Thomas on view at the Seattle Art Museum, and Everyday Black at the Northwest African American Museum (NAAM).

This year’s series will include two programs, one hosted at each institution. This program will feature photographer Zorn B. Taylor, musician Eva Walker, and Jaebadiah S. Gardner, Founder and CEO of Gardner Global. Chieko Phillips will moderate.

Figuring History: Robert Colescott, Kerry James Marshall, Mickalene Thomas brings together three generations of prominent contemporary American artists, whose work challenges a Western painting tradition that underrepresents people of color. The vibrant and monumental paintings by these artists offer bold perspectives on Black culture and representation. Presented together for the first time, the figurative paintings of Colescott, Marshall, and Thomas are shaped by distinctive historic events, unique in style, and united in questioning the narratives of history through Black experience.

Everyday Black is a captivating collection of portraits of a diverse group of Seattle community members by contemporary photographers Zorn B. Taylor and Jessica Rycheal. This show offers insightful meditations on identity and chosen community as the artists explore what it means to belong. Taylor and Rycheal present snapshots that beautifully bear witness to the everyday lives of black community members in Seattle and beyond.

This event is co-presented with Seattle Art Museum