Knicoma Frederick Solo Exhibit
“A New America”
September 2020
Curated by Michael Kalmbach
Upon accepting the Democratic nomination for President of the United States, Vice President Joe Biden quoted the Irish poet Seamus Heaney: “History says, don’t hope on this side of the grave, but then once in a lifetime the longed-for tidal wave of justice can rise up, and hope and history rhyme.”
Knicoma Frederick’s, “A New America” is an exhibition born out of the artist’s deep familiarity with the challenges of hope on this side of the grave. One can almost see the crest of the tidal wave looming over West Center City. If it ever rises to the task of rhyming history with Knicoma’s vision of hope, it will wash away the impulses to center the profits of developers, bankers, and the pharmaceutical industry. Systems of coercion will be defunded, and behavioral health outcomes will finally be driven by direct investments in employment, housing, justice, and love.
NOTE: We tried and failed to open the gallery during the pandemic. The work was hung, invitations went out, but all the pieces necessary to bring off the exhibit were not in place, so few people actually saw the work of this engaging artist.
A 24-Page 5.5×8.5-inch catalog was published for this exhibit by The Creative Vision Factory, 617 N. Shipley Street, Wilmington, DE 19801, with a foreword by curator Michael Kalmbach.
Photographs
