An art exhibit just opened in Binghampton to celebrate Black History Month.
Tucked away on Harvard Avenue just off Poplar is Caritas Village, a gallery, cafe, and art studio. This month the gallery is featuring a salon show called “Creating the Black Voice.”
“I’m not saying people don’t pay attention to it, but it’s not at the forefront like it was 20 years ago,” Carl Moore said.
Caritas presents 12 to 16 shows a year, and there’s always a special exhibit for Black History Month. From music, to family, to portraits of civil right’s heroes, all of the pieces highlight the black experience. Moore’s contribution to the exhibit is a conversation starter about racial conflict.
“I don’t understand the animosity and discourse that we have toward each other. I don’t understand,” he said.
Amy-Beth Rice’s pieces for the exhibit focus on beauty within. The former high school teacher says her work reflects a lesson she learned from her students.
“Some of my female students would call each other dark as an insult, and I didn’t even know shade-ism was such a prominent issue still,” she said.
Rice says these pictures show beauty is on the inside and a woman’s worth has nothing to do with her appearance.
Work by Daniel Ross entitled the “Agitator” pays homage to his parents’ involvement in the Civil Rights Movement in Canton, Mississippi.
“In my household when you walked in, the first person you see is MLW,” he said.
Rice says artists’ interpretations of moments in history are important to social consciousness.
“The artists have really recorded the voice of the people in a way that’s a little more poetic and maybe a little bit deeper,” she said.
The exhibit features more than two dozen original works by local artists.
“That’s the whole idea of the gallery, is to allow new artists, young artists to exhibit and get promoted,” Moore said.
Caritas Village is a space for artists, singers, poets, and all creative types to come together to share and showcase their gifts. It also offers art classes to children and adults.
The current exhibit runs through February.