BLACK HISTORY FESTIVAL OF THE ARTS OPENS AT ZHOU B ART CENTER

Photos by Monique Brinkman Hill, Vanessa Hobson and LeeAnn Trotter

The opening reception of the 2nd Annual Black History Festival of the Arts, presented by the OH Art Foundation, was a celebratory gathering of artists, writers, curators, collectors, and cultural leaders in a shared affirmation of Black creative legacy. The evening marked the debut of Rephrases en Noir, a group exhibition that situates Black literature as both source material and conceptual foundation for contemporary visual expression.

At its core, Rephrases en Noir, curated by Candace Hunter, brings the brilliance of Black literary thought into visual form—an act of translation, homage, and expansion. The exhibition explores how artists draw from a literary canon that has long examined, interpreted, and fortified Black culture. Through painting, mixed media, sculpture, and conceptual works, artists engage text not as illustration, but as catalyst—transforming language into image, gesture, and material presence.

The works on view reimagine the poetics of the Black experience in its full dimensionality: its histories and inheritances, its insurgent imagination, its interior worlds, and its ongoing reinvention. Visitors moved through the gallery encountering visual responses to themes of memory, resistance, love, exile, spirituality, and self-authorship—each piece offering a distinct yet interconnected meditation on how Black stories are carried forward across generations and disciplines.

The reception itself reflected the exhibition’s ethos. Conversations flowed freely between artists and attendees, underscoring the importance of communal exchange and intellectual kinship. Powerful musical performances energized the event.

Rephrases en Noir affirms the relationship between word and image, literature and visual culture. Engage on social media to learn about additional exhibitions and discussions associated with the Festival.  Continues through March 15th.