“We Have Made These Lands What They Are” | Opening Reception

Arnika Dawkins Gallery is pleased to present We Have Made These Lands What They Are, a solo exhibition featuring work by Keris Salmon during Black History Month. We Have Made These Lands What They Are include eighteen haunting images collected in a portfolio consisting of artifacts captured on southern antebellum plantations. A noted journalist, storyteller and artist, Salmon uses her artistic instinct to create an alternate reality regarding a troubling time in American history. The work explores family histories and their complex layers of relationships, unveiling the many significant links between black peoples’ past and present. In We Have Made These Lands What They Are, Salmon examines her connection to her own past, her partnership with her husband and his ancestors’ ownership of slaves.