Grounded in Grain, Washed in the Water
Black Southern traditions are not relics to be preserved behind glass, but dynamic systems of knowledge that continue to evolve.
Grounded in Grain, Washed in the Water, curated by Lauren Jackson Harris, explores ancestral narratives and the enduring relationships between land, water, memory, and Black life in the American South. Bringing together the work of Maya Freelon, Corey Alston, christa david, and Derrick Beasley, this collaborative exhibition between the Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art and the Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture considers how ancestral knowledge is carried across generations.
Rooted in resilience, creativity, and connection, this exhibition explores how the past traverses the body, the land, material traditions, and acts of imagination. The artists reveal that the histories embedded in Southern soil and waterways are not static remnants of the past, but living systems of knowledge that continue to shape contemporary Black life while offering pathways toward collective futures.
The partnership between the Halsey Institute and the Avery Research Center underscores the exhibition's central premise: History is not confined to the archive. While the Avery preserves the records of African American life, the artists in Grounded in Grain, Washed in the Water activate these histories that often exist beyond written texts and boxed objects.
Left: christa david, in stillness in solitude i count 42, 2026, Collage on paper, 10 x 8 inches 4. ; Middle: Derrick Beasley, Conduit, 2025, River Grape Vine, Pine Tar, Steel, 12 x 168 x 18 inches; Right: christa david, in stillness in solitude i count 53, 2026, Collage on paper, 10 x 8 inches 5.
Together, these artists reveal that Black Southern traditions are not relics to be preserved behind glass, but dynamic systems of knowledge that continue to evolve. Through basketry, collage, sculpture, painting, and immersive installation, these artists demonstrate that memory must be honored, practiced, embodied, cultivated, and imagined. Grain becomes more than sustenance; it becomes an inheritance. Water becomes more than geography; it becomes an archive. The body becomes both witness and vessel, carrying histories that extend beyond individual experience into cultural preservation.
The Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art at the College of Charleston School of the Arts provides a multidisciplinary laboratory for the production, presentation, interpretation, and dissemination of ideas by innovative visual artists from around the world. As a non-collecting museum, we create meaningful interactions between adventurous artists and diverse communities within a context that emphasizes the historical, social, and cultural importance of the art of our time. Our exhibitions are free and open to the public.
Learn more at halsey.charleston.edu.
