Many art exhibitions, especially in New York, are as much about our daily lives as about aesthetic art. In the Brooklyn Museum, the Legacy of Lynching: Confronting Racial Terror in America exhibition was created with the joint effort of the museum and the Equal Justice Initiative, which was founded by Bryan Stevenson in Montgomery, Alabama in 1994 to target racism in the criminal justice system.

The exhibition features over a dozen of pieces from the Brooklyn Museum’s Collection, displaying works of African-American artists such as: Sanford Biggers, Mark Bradford, Elizabeth Catlett, Melvin Edwards, Theaster Gates, Rashid Johnson, Titus Kaphar, Jacob Lawrence, Glenn Ligon, and Kara Walker. Furthermore, the exhibition features a video testimony from the children of the lynching victims, a documentary, photographs, and an interactive map which provides further context for the art on display.

Although the exhibition features over a dozen pieces, one of my favorite pieces is Blossom by Sanford Biggers. It features a wooden piano bench lying on synthetic dirt with a mahogany piano fused with a blossomed tree which plays “Strange Fruit” with MIDI player which was written by Billie Holiday in the 1930s. The song protests the barbarity of torturing and murdering African Americans using its metaphorical lyrics:

Southern trees bear a strange fruit,

Blood on the leaves and blood at the root,

Black body swinging in the Southern breeze,

Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees.

Pastoral scene of the gallant South,

The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth,

Scent of magnolia sweet and fresh,

And the sudden smell of burning flesh!

Here is a fruit for the crows to pluck,

For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck,

For the sun to rot, for a tree to drop,

Here is a strange and bitter crop.

Although the painful lyrics contains a variety of literary devices, symbolism seems to be the most critical and eye-catching one. More specifically, the lyrics illustrates a tree which has blood on the leaves and root, which undeniably symbolizes the African Americans killed based solely on their race. Moreover, the tree also evokes religious/cultural symbolism. For example, Biggers cites the story of Buddha finding enlightenment and inspiration under a Bodhi tree. This work demonstrates a mixture of compassion and cruelty which shows Buggers’ contradictory interest.

In addition to Blossom, another one of my favorite art pieces from this exhibition is Burning African Village Play Set with Big House and Lynching by Kara Walker. It presents the daily life of the South during the era of the Civil War by illustrating painted black laser cut steel of enslaved African Americans, Confederate soldiers, small huts, Southern belles, and a plantation mansion on top of a white table. The black and white color scheme enhances the art and most importantly provides greater analysis by showing us segregation of white and black. The elements of this art piece are great; however, I feel that the characters and other elements should be rearranged so that one can better analyze the issues of race and gender, and oppression and power.

The Legacy of Lynching: Confronting Racial Terror in America is much focused on alternating the story of racial difference that has been promoted in America for long a period of time by educating Americans about these painful stories of African Americans tortured and murdered because of the trauma of institutionalized racism. By knowing the issues, we can be better citizens for the future which will lead to a more meaningful and informed appreciation of our past.