Nuestros Orígenes Devotos/Our Devoted Origins. Manuel Mosquera Garcés: between religion, language and blood, a curatorial experiment that questions the memories (myths) created around absent figures in our families. This exhibition is centered on the case of Manuel Mosquera Garcés (1907-1972), Afro-Colombian politician and journalist, and the resonances his figure still has in the Mosquera family.

During the month of February 20 thru March 20, the Nightingale-Brown House's Carriage House Gallery will transform into a Public Humanities LAB. During this time, Public Humanities graduate students will mount exhibitions, pop-up experiences, prototyping projects, performances, workshops and gatherings that probe questions about art, memory, storytelling, history, culture and identity. All programs are free and open to the public. The Public Humanities LAB is open M-F 10am-4pm. The exact schedule of events is being finalized. Please check below for scheduling updates.

Migration; incarceration; income inequality; environmental degradation and extinction: these are some of the most pressing problems of the 21st century. There are volumes of data that reveal the extent of the impact these events are having on human lives; increasingly, they are the focus of some of the most affecting contemporary art as well.

This exhibition of photographs by Debi Cornwall includes environmental portraits of 14 former Guantánamo captives now living in 9 countries, from Albania to Qatar. Each image replicates, in the free world, the military’s “no faces” rule, commenting on alienation of indefinite detention and how these men will remain forever marked by Guantánamo.  

Sarah Paulsen is a visual artist and filmmaker based in St. Louis, MO. Playing Innocent, a solo exhibition of Paulsen's work, features a mix of paintings, collage, textile works, and animated film that examine the social construction of whiteness as a racial formation in American society, and its intersection with other social identities, such as gender, class, and citizenship.

Closing reception: March 16, 4:00-6:00pm. Light refreshments will be served.

Solitary Confinement: Inhumanity in Rhode Island seeks to educate the public about the abuses of solitary confinement in Rhode Island and throughout the country in order to create political pressure to reduce the prevalence of this violent practice.

November 28, 2016-February 12, 2017
Providence City Hall, 2nd Floor Gallery
25 Dorrance Street, Providence, RI

Opening Reception on Friday, December 2, 2016, 5:00-7:00 PM

Santuario (a project by Rica Maestas, MA'18) is a space and occasion to make peace with your past, honor your memories, and move forward feeling lighter and open to new experience. From November 2-22, search your life and find something you want to let go of – resentment, nostalgia, regret, loss, etc. – and excise that feeling in the form of a meaningful object. Once this object is identified, please bring it by living room 4N of the Granoff Center and lay it to rest. More info here.

 From New York to Cairo, from Taiwan to Baltimore, political protest movements reveal the complicated and emotional relationships between citizens and their government.

States of Incarceration is the first national traveling multi-media exhibition on the history and future of mass incarceration in the United States. It was developed by faculty and students at twenty different universities across the country, including Brown, working together through a national program called the Humanities Action Lab with funding from the National Endowment of the Humanities and the Institute for Museum and Library Sciences.

The 2014 Hong Kong demonstrations, now known as the Umbrella Movement inspired a community of makers. Using art as protest, participants worked across various media, including photography, installation, text, performance, film, and illustration. Artful Protest: Creative Expression and the Umbrella Movement brings together photography and mixed media to highlight the commonalities of social justice movements across generations and around the globe.

“Banners and bombs” is a photographic exhibit that presents the work of three young photojournalists who have been documenting the Chilean student movement since 2011. This movement provides another perspective on the civil rights movement as a global phenomenon. Come to the Granoff Center for the Creative Arts and check it out from March 5th - March 18th.

Sponsored by Creative Arts Council and John Nicholas Brown Center for Public Humanities and Cultural Heritage

Public Humanities Gallery, John Nicholas Brown Center for Public Humanities and Cultural Heritage, 357 Benefit Street February 10 – April 15, 2016

John Hay Library, Main Gallery: February 10 - May 13, 2016

Opening Reception

Sculptor Gail Whitsitt-Lynch has created "BitterSweet" from the wood of a stately elm that stood in the garden at the Nightingale-Brown house from 1920 to 2014. Although the tree is gone, its life continues in this dynamic carving. The exhibit explores the evolution of material through the artist's process to the finished sculpture, BitterSweet, and includes a graphic history of the life cycle of this singular tree.

Sculptor Gail Whitsitt-Lynch has created "BitterSweet" from the wood of a stately elm that stood in the garden at the Nightingale-Brown house from 1920 to 2014. Although the tree is gone, its life continues in this dynamic carving. The exhibit explores the evolution of material through the artist's process to the finished sculpture, BitterSweet, and includes a graphic history of the life cycle of this singular tree.

Gallery Hours: Monday-Friday, 10 am - 4 pm

Gallery Night Providence: June 18, July 16 and August 20

Opening Reception: Thursday, May 28, 4-8 pm

The Mobile Museum of American Artifacts (MMoAA) is a touring museum of personal objects and their histories. Housed in a small vintage trailer, MMoAA travels from town to town, conducting an “archeology of the present” that uncovers objects of significant (and insignificant) connection to everyday American life. MMoAA will be making its debut visit to Providence May 11-16th. Mark your calendars and find your objects!

MMoAA Locations:

Tragically, sexual assault is an all too frequent occurrence in the world.  It remains an issue which is extremely difficult for many people to look at.  Its victims include children and adults of all ages, races, and genders.  This exhibit is composed of the poetry and art of survivors of sexual assault, and gives voice to their pain,  suffering, and healing. 

Urban Pond Procession Arts presents "Beacon" a floating lighthouse installation by Kristina Brown.

Where can Guantánamo  be found in United States culture and politics? How do migration, security, refuge, and human rights affect our communities in Rhode Island?

As part of September’s Gallery Night Providence, drop by the University of Rhode Island’s Feinstein gallery in downtown Providence to see the exhibit “Bringing  Guantánamo Home”, meet photographer Mary Beth Meehan and students from the International Chater School and learn more about their work shown in the exhibit.

Join the Center for Public Humanities and Cultural Heritage and the Creative Arts Council for an opening reception celebrating the installation "The Way of Strategy", by Fitt Artists in Residence Pedro Frank Gutiérrez Torres and Alexander Beatón Galano (Cuba). Their project, El Camino de la Estrategia (The Way of Strategy) is based on oral history, visual material of the environment of the inhabitants of the small town of Caimanera in their relations with this political, military and social phenomenon: the US military enclave usurped from their territory.