21 May Black Wall Street Gallery Announces Full Artist List for 21 Piece Salute: A Salute to the Ancestors Who Lost Their Lives in the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre
Charica Daugherty “Black Wall Street Rising” Oil on canvas 40” x 60” 2021
Black Wall Street Gallery releases the full lineup of Black artists featured in the upcoming group exhibition 21 Piece Salute. Curated by Dr. Ricco Wright, a fourth-generation Tulsan, 21 Piece Salute is the Gallery’s most ambitious exhibition to date, honoring those who lost their lives and livelihoods in the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre and celebrating Black entrepreneurship as we look toward the next 100 years.
This May 31st and June 1st mark the centennial anniversary of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, when white mobs decimated the thriving Greenwood District of Tulsa, Oklahoma, killing hundreds and displacing thousands more while burning homes and businesses to the ground.
Opening Thursday, May 27th at 7pm, 21 Piece Salute will feature 21 Black artists from around the world, including two Oklahomans: Charica Daugherty, the 2021 Black Wall Street Gallery Artist-in-Residence, and Robert Peterson. Each artist will have one piece on view, to total 21 pieces in all.
The exhibition will also mark the Grand Opening of Black Wall Street Gallery’s new location at 33 Howard Street in SoHo.
Artist List:
*2021 Black Wall Street Gallery Artist-in-Residence
^Represented by Black Wall Street Gallery
+Based in Oklahoma
~Based in New York
“This marquee exhibition is not focused on revisiting the massacre as much as it focuses on continuing the legacy of Black Wall Street for the next hundred years by building generational wealth through art. The pioneers of Black Wall Street were standard-bearers of group economics and black entrepreneurship, and today we continue that thread,” said Dr. Ricco Wright, owner of Black Wall Street Gallery and curator of 21 Piece Salute.
Dr. Wright learned the importance of upward mobility from his great grandfather, who lived in Tulsa during the height of Black Wall Street’s economic boom. “My goal is to have at least 75% of our artists represented in permanent collections in museums around the world,” says Dr. Wright. “I want to see Black artists in museums alongside the Picassos, Van Goghs and Warhols of the world to the point where we don’t need to say ‘she’s a Black artist’ but rather ‘she’s an American artist.’”
He continues, “I want museums to share the influence and excellence of Black artists. Today, a white kid who listens to Kendrick Lamar and loves Black music might go into a museum and see no representation of artists who look like Kendrick Lamar. That sends a signal that while certain forms of art, like music, showcase Black artists, the art world is primarily filled with white spaces for white people. Our ultimate goal is to be change agents who seek to transform museums from spaces of exclusion to spaces of inclusion, that value and honor the work of Black artists. In doing so, we not only capture a richer representation of cultural life, but also work toward building a society that truly embraces the diversity of the human experience and artistic expression.”
About Black Wall Street Gallery
Built to celebrate the work of contemporary Black artists from around the world, Black Wall Street Gallery educates on social justice, preserves Black culture, and seeks to find unity via owner and curator Dr. Ricco Wright’s philosophy of socioracial idealism. The original Black Wall Street Gallery in Tulsa, Oklahoma, brings awareness to the history of the thriving Black community in Tulsa’s Greenwood District, burned to the ground in the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre and built back up time and again. Black Wall Street Gallery is located at 33 Howard Street, New York, NY 10013, and online at bwsgallery.com.
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