Thursday, September 21, 2023 @ 5:00 pm - 8:00 pm | Potter Gallery
Above Image: Neka King, "Expansion," 2019, Installation. Photo courtesy of the artist in collaboration with refinery29.
SECCA is proud to present If These Walls Could Talk, an exhibition of site-specific mural installations by William Downs, Neka King, and Raj Bunnag, on view September 21 through December 31 in SECCA's Potter Gallery. An opening reception will be held Thursday, September 21, from 5 to 8 pm, with remarks at 6:45pm and a Q&A with the artists and curator Maya Brooks at 7pm. Admission is free and open to the public.
For centuries, murals served as visual representations of complex social and political commentary in accessible spaces. Creatives placed their work on public structures, in civic centers, among other prominent areas, to communicate relevant critiques of everyday life. This documentation of contemporary issues connected individual experiences across race, gender, and religion, providing a tangible record of shared existence.
If These Walls Could Talk upholds the relationship between mural art and public institutions with site-specific works by Durham, NC–based artist Raj Bunnag and Atlanta, GA–based artists William Downs and Neka King. Each of these artists engages graphic techniques that range from line drawing to printmaking, paralleling traditional mural applications that require affixing materials directly onto a wall. Ultimately, their stylized depictions of people and landscapes envelop viewers in an illustrative social analysis of present and sometimes future concepts.
If These Walls Could Talk also marks the Winston-Salem curatorial debut of Maya Brooks, the assistant curator of contemporary art serving both SECCA and the North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh. "I am most excited about this exhibition because it builds upon a long-standing human tradition of sharing ideas and building communities through public expression," said Brooks. "Although distinctly contemporary in style and focus, this exhibition feels timeless because of the artists' ability to reference the different layers of history that have altered our present and, possibly, our future experiences."