TOPIC: The Complicated, Immersive Worlds of Whitfield Lovell

SPEAKER: Dr. Jen Edwards, Mint Museum of Art Chief curator and curator of contemporary art

New York-based artists Whitfield Lovell creates meticulous portrait drawings and immersive installations that envelope the viewer’s every sensory response. Fresh soil, a tumbler of bourbon, cicadas humming, a gospel chorus swelling in a spiritual, the pulsating rhythm of a river’s current and sunlight sparking light off the ripples, gently shaded charcoal drawings of Black Americans whose likenesses Lovell finds in his personal collection of 3,000 government identification photographs from 1850 to 1950 that—these are some of the details that Lovell includes in his work. The resulting effect encompasses both highly personal and expansively universal, the historic and the immediate. Lovell’s work encourages us to imagine the lives and worlds of his portrait sitters while also reminding us of the complicated narrative of the United States. Through the story of African Americans from the Civil War to the Civil Rights Movement, Lovell invites us to investigate human struggle, resilience, and fortitude.

The Mint Museum will present an major exhibition on Whitfield Lovell from June 29, 2024 to September 22, 2024 at the Uptown location.

BIOGRAPHY

Jennifer Sudul Edwards, Ph.D. received her doctorate from the Institute of Fine Arts, NYU, in 2014. Since July 2019 she has been the chief curator and curator of contemporary art at The Mint Museum.

She has held curatorial positions at the Norton Simon Museum, Santa Barbara Museum of Art, the Bechtler Museum of Modern Art, and the Annenberg Space for Photography, Los Angeles.

Dr. Sudul Edwards has won numerous awards for her publications, exhibitions, and curatorial work, including an SEMC Publications Award for her Wrestling the Angel compendium and Charlotte Magazine’s “Best Curator” for 2017 and Charlottean of the Year in 2019.

She is a cofounder and co-organizer of Sphere Series and founding Board Chair at Goodyear Arts, where she continues to serve on the Board.