Rewind History On Repeat Exhibition
REWIND: HISTORY ON REPEAT is a timely and heartfelt exhibition spotlighting the Black LGBTQ+ experience in America and featuring collages by creative artist, Beau McCall and archival material from the Stonewall National Museum, Library, & Archives (SNMAL). The collages are drawn from McCall’s debut artists’ book, REWIND: MEMORIES ON REPEAT which honors the legacy of ten of McCall’s deceased friends. Each collage is composed of McCall’s personal archival photos and papers, along with images from his clothing button embellished artwork. The collages capture the late 1970s to the mid-1990s, from Philadelphia to New York, during the LGBTQ+ rights movement, the height of disco music and the AIDS crisis.
McCall’s work is rooted in framing personal memories and experiences within historical and social contexts. To aid in this narrative select collages are paired with an archival item from SNMAL that relates to the theme of McCall’s artwork. This pairing draws a parallel between the personal experiences of McCall and his friends and the larger historical moments that impacted their lives. Collectively, McCall’s collages and Stonewall’s archive reflect the joys and struggles of the Black LGBTQ+ community and demonstrate how art and archives can be used as tools to better understand our lives, find connections between the past and present, and imagine a brighter future.
