Dates: October 18, 2024 through January 11, 2025
Opening Reception: Friday, October 18, 5-8PM
Virtual Artist Talk: Thursday, November 14, 5-7PM
Closing Reception: Friday, January 10, 2025

The Elaine L. Jacob Gallery, Wayne State University is pleased to present Echoes from the Rust, October 18, 2024 through January 11, 2025. An opening reception will be held on Friday, October 18, 5-8PM, with a DJ performance by Saylem Celeste (Submerge), playing from 5:30-8PM. 

Echoes from the Rust traces the artistic lineages of the Rust Belt as it re-emerges from a time of fracture following corporate abandonment and economic decline. This group exhibition hones in on artwork made by artists with lived experiences in Detroit and Pittsburgh, two post-industrial titans forged by steel.

Through various personal explorations the artists invoke the deep rich cultural inheritance of the Rust Belt. These sensitive minings are reflected against surfaces in new forms of paintings, drawings, collage, found objects, and video/site-specific installations. With experimentations intersecting themes around identity, migration, labor, and place, Echoes from the Rust compels us to re-center the Rust Belt’s multifaceted histories – to provide guidance as a bright shining light moving forward.

Echoes from the Rust is curated by Kemuel Benyehudah, a Brooklyn born curator who has relocated to Detroit and witnessed gentrification’s socioeconomic disparities, cultural erasure, and human displacement. He is interested in expanded notions of community to envision equitable futures for all.

Works by the following artists are included in the exhibition: N.E. Brown, Halima Afi Cassells, Adnan Charara, Joshua Challen Ice, Hubert Massey, and Omid Shekari.

Special programing coinciding with the exhibition will include a virtual artist talk on Thursday, November 14 from 6-8PM on Zoom, and a closing reception on Friday, January 10 5-8PM.

Visit https://www.waynestategalleries.org/ for more information.