This week, GBH Arts Editor Jared Bowen takes us through two exhibitions of artist Sonya Clark’s work at the deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum. Plus, reviews of “TJ Loves Sally 4 Ever” and the Oscar-nominated film “Crip Camp.”
“Monumental Cloth, The Flag We Should Know” & “Heavenly Bound,” two new exhibitions by artist Sonya Clark on view through September 12, 2021
The deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum presents two exhibitions by Sonya Clark, 2020 recipient of the museum’s annual Rappaport Prize. In “Sonya Clark: Heavenly Bound,” the artist debuts her most recent work including “Constellation” which delivers patrons into a night sky — honoring the guidance it provided enslaved people escaping to freedom. And in “Sonya Clark: Monumental Cloth, The Flag We Should Know,” Clark interrogates the enduring legacy of the Confederate Battle Flag with an examination of the lesser-known Confederate Flag of Truce which was used by Confederate troops to acknowledge General Robert E. Lee’s surrender in 1865.
“What would this nation be like if [the Confederate Flag of Truce] was the image of the Civil War that had endured?” asks Clark. “What is the work that needs to be done now that Africans, who were born as human beings and enslaved, are now free? What does that freedom mean and how do we work towards those freedoms?”
“TJ Loves Sally 4 Ever,” presented virtually by SpeakEasy Stage Company, April 30 through May 13
A play by James Ijames takes aim at systemic racism in “TJ loves Sally 4 Ever.” The irreverent satire centers around Black college student Sally, who fends off repeated advances from her southern college’s Dean of Students, TJ. Yes, this is a direct reference to the history of President Thomas Jefferson and his relationship with Sally Hemmings. While set in the present day, the comedy is a back-to-the-future examination of what we all inherit from this country’s history of slavery.
“'TJ Loves Sally 4 Ever’ crackles with freshness,” says Jared. “It’s a hilarious, biting and sobering distillation of where society stands today. Here, humor is used to its best possible effect as we follow the short thread from the original TJ and Sally to their modern counterparts.”
“Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution,” an Oscar-nominated documentary now available on Netflix
Discover the summer camp that inspired a movement in “Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution” streaming now on Netflix. Co-directed by Nicole Newnham and James Lebrecht, with executive producers Barack and Michelle Obama, the documentary starts in 1971 at Camp Jened, a free-spirited spot in the Catskills of New York that allowed disabled youth to experience life to the fullest without the intrusions or judgment of the outside world. The empowerment these campers developed would have a lasting impact as a number of former Jened campers went on to lead the Disability Rights Movement that ultimately led to the Americans with Disabilities Act.
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