Rashaun Rucker
Up From the Red Clay
March 26 - May 1, 2021
Opening Weekend: March 26 & 27, 12 - 6 PM
Artist Talk: A Conversation Between Rashaun Rucker & Senghor Reid
April 29, 6 PM EST
Up From the Red Clay is a multimedia exhibition consisting of over twenty new works by Detroit-based artist, Rashaun Rucker. Rucker, originally from North Carolina, moved to Detroit in 2003 to pursue a career in photojournalism. His years of experience photographically documenting stories have influenced his more recent visual artwork and played a role in his understanding of narrative creation.
Rucker generally focuses his work on the experiences of Black people in America, commenting on social and cultural issues. Yet with Up From the Red Clay, contrary to many previous works, rather than specifically discussing inequality, injustice, and other issues particularly relevant to Black communities, Rucker portrays a familial narrative.
Through monotypes, linocut prints, drawings, and multimedia works, Rucker reveals intimate portraits of himself and his family, weaving a story through generations. Understanding that each figure is a specific person with a much more complex story than is revealed through the artwork, the pieces become relatable and more easily accessible to the viewer.
The title references Rucker’s heritage and his upbringing in North Carolina: the red clay that birthed his family story. Many of the works feature the use of red artistic materials as a connecting element to the title, yet the underlying themes of the exhibition are family legacy and the importance of religion in Black life.
“Blackness, while not a monolith, exists through oral tradition, through stories brought forth from parents to children, grandparents to grandchildren, and through iconography and imagery. Up From the Red Clay tells the story of one Black family from the American South, and countless others who’ve shared a legacy of what’s important and what isn’t, a narrative of Blackness that’s personal and intricate, but also accessible and relatable.’’
Read “Rashaun Rucker: Up From the Red Clay” by Juana Williams
