Suite shows racial strife, change

Rarely does an art exhibit evoke an entire cultural phenomenon, but Jacob Lawrence's The Migration of the Negro, currently on display at Golden Belt Gallery near downtown Durham, is as much a narrative as it is a visual collection.

The 60-piece suite, created in 1941, chronicles the experience of southern blacks who decided to emigrate to the Ñorth in post-Civil War America. The subject matter--a migration within a country-separates it from the more common focus of immigration art on crossing national boundaries.

Each image tackles one aspect of the move from South to North. Blacks are illustrated in their everyday lives through rich, earthy colors, and the depictions of nature have noticeable depth. Lawrence also covers housing conditions, social difficulties and race relations at length as he exposes the causes of the migration.

One of the most striking examples is a scene touching on the subject of lynching, a great concern for Southern blacks at this time. It depicts an man, huddled in the foreground, confronting a lynch rope that hangs against a gray sky backdrop. The painting is brutal and stark, and it is typical of Lawrence's ability to convey emotions and tone through minimal detail.

He employs a number of interesting stylistic techniques in his work, from skewed perspectives to absurdist portraiture. Yet the images themselves are never overshadowed by their message. Scenes depicting the race riots that gripped many cities are busy and strange, with bodies stretched across the frame and intertwined in battle.

But Lawrence never comes across as biased. One of his most powerful drawings shows a black couple, clad in furs and tuxedo, their faces seething with disdain for their poor, newly arrived brethren.

The Migration of the Negro has a singularly historical resonance that makes it more than just visual stimulation. It successfully provides a window into America's own immigrant wave.

Migration of the Negro is on display at Golden Belt Gallery, 807 E. Main St. in Durham, until Oct. 5.

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