The Harlem School of Arts Visual Arts Department Emerging & Teaching Artists Exhibition is pleased to present Rewriting History: paper gowns & photographs, a solo exhibition by Brooklyn-based Haitian artist Fabiola Jean-Louis. This collection of new and recent works will be her first solo show featuring an installment of photography and display of 15-19th century-inspired period paper gown sculptures. An opening reception will be held on February 6th, 2016 from 6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. The exhibition will be on view through March 1, 2016 at the Harlem School of the Arts Gallery at 645 Saint Nicholas Avenue and is free and open to the public.

Rewriting History is an inquiry into social change. How much has society really changed since the beginning of slavery?  Do Black lives matter in the 21st century? The exhibition interrogates these questions and more through a haunting photographic essay and paper sculptures styled to mimic garments worn by female European nobility between the 15th – 19th centuries.  As part of a developing master series of paper gown sculptures, these works speaks to the shocking treatment of Blacks throughout history and the trauma inflicted on their bodies as juxtaposed with the abstract idea of Black freedom. Simultaneously, the artist engages with a vision of the future – one of hope, strength, resilience, and beauty. The materials used for the paper gown sculptures are transformed in a way that allows the artist to represent layers of time and the events as they intrude upon the present. Through the materials, the artist suggests that although we cannot change the past, we can act to change the present, as we activate the memories, visions, and legacies of our ancestors.