Response to Jared Thorne's Exhibition "Black & Blue"

In his exhibition Black & Blue, artist and faculty member Jared Thorne examines the experience of an African American living in a white-majority area on a personal level. Although the subject matter is serious, the gallery space maintains a lighthearted ambiance, with a Malcolm  "Message to the Grass Roots" speech playing from a record player in the corner, which somehow manages a soothing tone despite its content. Thorne’s exhibition consists primarily of many large prints of elementary school class photographs, which are eye catching in their isolation, hung on the unembellished white walls. Upon inspection, one will find that nearly all of the children in the photographs are white. Before learning more about the pieces, I had observed that the children all looked very similar, with the brown hair and European features common in many small towns in Ohio. I did not realize the significance of the few black children in the pictures, however, until Thorne provided external information in his talk about the exhibition. Thorne explained that he grew up as a black child in a predominantly white suburb, and experienced cultural isolation. This situation, a kind of incidental “tokenism,” made it difficult to connect well with other people. The repurposed class portraits illustrate the few black children in predominantly white classrooms, who dealt with the same problem that Thorne has experienced.

The external information provided by Thorne’s talk helped me to understand the connotation and intention behind the pieces in his exhibition. Although I was admittedly sick and somewhat “off” on that day, I do not think I would have been able to understand the deeper meaning of his work without his explanation, and so I am glad to have been able to hear it. His work, in one of arts’ important roles in society, makes the audience aware of a complex social issue. I appreciated the opportunity to hear about his perspective as a child. It made me wonder in what ways the social disconnect black children can experience could be changed in the future.

Thorne incorporated some dark humor in this exhibition with his sculpture “Please Don’t Touch”. He suspended a sphere of real human hair, in various textures and shades of curly black, from the ceiling, with an afro pick stuck in the side. Thorne recalled, with his glowing smile, that his white classmates used to touch his hair without permission, and how he would cry about it when he got home. His sculpture addresses this issue in real time in the gallery. Some of the audience may be likely to touch the piece even though the title specifically instructs them not to.