Sonya Clark (American, born 1967), The Hair Craft Project: Hairstylists with Sonya: Sonya Clark with Jamilah Williams, 2013, inkjet photograph, 28 × 28 inches. Photo: Naoko Wowsugi.
Future Exhibition
Sonya Clark: We Are Each Other
October 27, 2023 – February 18, 2024
Sonya Clark (American, born 1967), Finding Freedom, 2019–2020, light-sensitive cyanotype fabric, approximately 1500 square feet, collection of the artist. Installation view at Phillips Museum of Art, Franklin & Marshall College. Photo: Deb Grove.
The High will present this major traveling exhibition of the pioneering fiber artist Sonya Clark that will bring together her large-scale, community-centered and participatory projects for the first time, including The Beaded Prayers Project (1998-ongoing), The Hair Craft Project (2014), and the Monumental Cloth series (2019).
The exhibition is co-organized by the High, the Cranbrook Art Museum in metro Detroit and the Museum of Arts and Design in New York. Clark’s work centers on race and Black experience, and the collaboration between the institutions is rooted in both audience and context, as all three cities have substantial populations of residents with a lineage to the African diaspora, and each museum is dedicated to celebrating and collecting contemporary art and craft traditions. The exhibition will debut at Cranbrook (June 17-Sept. 24, 2023) and travel to the Museum of Arts and Design next spring (March 23-Sept. 22, 2024) after its presentation at the High.
Clark is acclaimed for using everyday fiber materials, such as hair, flags, and found fabric, and a range of textile techniques including weaving, braiding, quilting, and beading, to examine issues of history, racial injustice, cultural legacies, and reconciliation. We Are Each Other shows how her community-centered projects facilitate new collective encounters across racial, gender, and socioeconomic divisions. In addition to her large-scale installations, the exhibition will feature a range of her photographs, prints, and sculpture.
This exhibition is co-organized by the High Museum of Art, Atlanta; Cranbrook Art Museum, Bloomfield Hills, MI; and the Museum of Arts and Design, New York.
This exhibition is curated by Monica Obniski, Curator of Decorative Arts and Design at the High Museum of Art; Laura Mott, Chief Curator, Cranbrook Art Museum; and Elissa Auther, Deputy Director of Curatorial Affairs and William and Mildred Lasdon Chief Curator, the Museum of Arts and Design.
Major funding for this exhibition is provided by William Banks Jr. Trust.
Premier Exhibition Series Sponsor
Premier Exhibition Series Supporters
ACT Foundation, Inc.
William N. Banks, Jr.
Cousins Foundation
Burton M. Gold
Sarah and Jim Kennedy
Benefactor Exhibition Series Supporters
Robin and Hilton Howell
Ambassador Exhibition Series Supporters
Mrs. Fay S. Howell/The Howell Fund
Karen and Jeb Hughes/Corporate Environments
Loomis Charitable Foundation
The Fred and Rita Richman Fund
Louise Sams and Jerome Grilhot
Mrs. Harriet H. Warren
Elizabeth and Chris Willett
Contributing Exhibition Series Supporters
Farideh and Al Azadi
Sandra and Dan Baldwin
Mr. Joseph H. Boland, Jr.
Mr. and Mrs. Robin E. Delmer
Peggy Foreman
Mr. and Mrs. Baxter Jones
Joel Knox and Joan Marmo
Margot and Danny McCaul
Wade A. Rakes II and Nicholas Miller
USI Insurance Services
Generous support is also provided by
Alfred and Adele Davis Exhibition Endowment Fund, Anne Cox Chambers Exhibition Fund, Barbara Stewart Exhibition Fund, Dorothy Smith Hopkins Exhibition Endowment Fund, Eleanor McDonald Storza Exhibition Endowment Fund, The Fay and Barrett Howell Exhibition Fund, Forward Arts Foundation Exhibition Endowment Fund, Helen S. Lanier Endowment Fund, John H. and Wilhelmina D. Harland Exhibition Endowment Fund, Katherine Murphy Riley Special Exhibition Endowment Fund, Margaretta Taylor Exhibition Fund, RJR Nabisco Exhibition Endowment Fund, and Waymaker Media.
The exhibition and catalogue are also supported by the Henry Luce Foundation.
