On Thursday, October 26 at 5 p.m., the CADVC presents a conversation with the curator, Fitsum Shebeshe, and Jessica Bell Brown, curator at the Baltimore Museum of Art. The discussion, moderated by Rhea Beckett, founding director at Black Artist Research Space, will focus on curatorial approaches to African diasporic experience and migration.

Please visit here for additional information

Fitsum Shebeshe is a curator and painter based in Baltimore and Washington D.C., and curator of States of Becoming, touring with Independent Curators International. Before moving to the United States in 2016, he was Assistant Curator at the National Museum of Ethiopia. In 2012, Shebeshe co-founded the 1957 Initiative to annually celebrate the liberation of African countries from colonialism through the arts.

Jessica Bell Brown is the Curator and Department Head for Contemporary Art at the Baltimore Museum of Art. Prior to the BMA she was the Consulting Curator at Gracie Mansion Conservancy in New York, and also held roles at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, and Creative Time. She is curator of the touring exhibition A Movement in Every Direction: Legacies of the Great Migration, co-organized with the Mississippi Museum of Art.

Rhea Beckett is an artist, curator, and arts administrator with an extensive performing and visual arts background. She co-founded the Black Artist Research Space (BARS), a Baltimore-based creative collective and incubator. Beckett has served as a Legislative Affairs and Grants Specialist at the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, where she played an integral role in supporting the creative community of Washington, D.C., through policy and grant-making. She has served as Registrar of the Howard University art collection and gallery manager of C. Grimaldis Gallery (Baltimore, MD). Rhea earned her BS in Art from Fisk University, where she sang soprano in the Grammy Award-winning Fisk Jubilee Singers. Rhea received her MFA in Curatorial Practice from the Maryland Institute College of Art. Rhea Beckett is a proud member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.

Header detail: Gabriel C. Amadi-Emina, Fade Catcher, 2021, Diptych photographic print on museo silver rag adhered flat on wooden panel. Courtesy of the artist. Pink and orange flowers on the left is separated by a yellow void from a floral textile with pink flowers in the center. On the right, handwritten text says, "Who will survive."

Logo: "Center for Art, Design and Visual Culture" in white text inside black rectangle

Artists featured in the exhibition include Gabriel C. Amadi-Emina, Kearra Amaya Gopee, Kibrom Araya, Nadia Ayari, Vamba Bility, Elshafei Dafalla, Masimba Hwati, Chido Johnson, Miatta Kawinzi, Dora King, Helina Metaferia, Nontsikelelo Mutiti, Yvonne Osei, Kern Samuel, Amare Selfu, Tariku Shiferaw, and Yacine Tilala Fall.

Visitor Information

Admission is free. The CADVC is open Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.

Parking is free during evening and weekend hours, and metered parking is available at other times. Please visit here for directions and parking information.

For special accessibility needs or questions, please email abbotts@umbc.edu or call 410-455-3188 as soon as possible. We will do our best to provide accommodation and access.

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States of Becoming is a traveling exhibition curated by Fitsum Shebeshe and produced by Independent Curators International (ICI), New York. Independent Curators International (ICI) supports the work of curators to help create stronger art communities through experimentation, collaboration, and international engagement. Curators are arts community leaders and organizers who champion artistic practice, build essential infrastructures and institutions, and generate public engagement with art. ICI's collaborative programs connect curators across generations and across social political and cultural borders. They form an international framework for sharing knowledge and resources and for promoting cultural exchange, access to art, and public awareness of the curator's role. Lead funding is provided by the Hartfield Foundation as part of an initiative to support ICI's commitment to new curatorial voices who will shape the future of the field, and ICI's Curatorial Intensive alumni as they move through the stages of their career. States of Becoming is made possible with the generous support of ICI's Board of Trustees and International Forum. Crozier Fine Arts is the Preferred Art Logistics Partner. Exhibition graphics by Untitled Agency, Marrakech.

Image: Gabriel C. Amadi-Emina, Fade Catcher, 2021, Diptych photographic print on museo silver rag adhered flat on wooden panel. Courtesy of the artist. (Image: On the left a person wearing a blue COVID-era mask and dressed in patches of bright patterns holds long-stemmed roses in front of their face while sitting boot to knee in front of a brightly colored and highly patterned curtain. A hand-written message says, "Who will survive in America?" On the right, an abutting image is presented sideways with a figure in shadow wearing a fedora and holding long-stemmed flowers in their teeth. A TV test pattern sign says, "NO SIGNAL INPUT.")