Organized by North Carolina’s Mint Museum in collaboration with the Georgia Museum of Art, Southern/Modern was the first comprehensive survey of artworks created in the American South from 1913 to 1955. As successful as the early-2024 show was for its presentation of Southern art, it was particularly excellent in its presentation of Black and female artists. I also admired how the show encouraged viewers to think critically, with singular conviction and clear context for grappling with slavery, Jim Crow and segregation. This was a master class in balancing celebration with reckoning.
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