Nothing has shaped the culture of America more profoundly than the African diaspora.  From the West Africans captured and brought here against their will, to the liberated slaves after the Civil War, to the postwar migrations to industrial cities, to protests for black equality, the experience of Black America resounds through all of the United States’ history, music, art and culture.

In 2021, the bell hooks center in Berea, Kentucky named Milwaukee’s Rosy Petri as their first-ever artist-in-residence.  On her drive to her new post, Petri took the long way, traveling alone, over 1,400 miles through the South for over a month to her new post in Appalachia. Along the way, she documented her journey in a series of photographs she has entitled, “American Altars,” which is on exhibit through September 1st at Madison’s Arts and Literature Laboratory.  Rosy Petri joins us now by phone.

Rosy’s exhibit “American Altars” is on exhibit through September 1st on the mezzanine level of the Arts and Literature Laboratory at 111 South Livingston Street in Madison.  

 

Image by Rosy Petri via Art Lit Lab

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