LACMA Hits Two Out of the Art Ballpark – Genie Davis
Tavares Strachan: The Day Tomorrow Began, is an impressive, immersive series of installations which connect the viewer with the subject of the Black diaspora through resonant, experiential settings. Spread through seven galleries, the exhibition begins with the Encyclopedia Room, a wall to wall, 2,000-page Encyclopedia of Invisibility that riffs on the Encyclopedia Britannica. Illustrating information that has been rendered either invisible or obscured, it covers subjects as diverse as mechanical devices and the music of Billie Holiday. With over 17,000 entries, the information is eye-openeing, both overwhelming and exciting.
The Barbershop, a startlingly monochrome installation depicting a Black barber shop, is bold and involving. Here the viewer enters a complete world, both informational and personal. The installation has black walls, black furniture, black implements, with the occasional pop of color. Even the barber pole is black and white rather than the traditional red and white. The room references cultural icons, styling elements, and the importance of Black hair both culturally and personally. The limited color palette somehow manages to sing with an internal burst of color.
Then, as if feeding off this energy, the viewer next observes a wall of rainbow-colored neon, with paired quotes from James Baldwin and Mark Twain as mirror images. Mounted on a floating wall, behind this singular, stand-on-your-head to read it all image, is The Monument Hall. Here monolithic works capture images such as Henri Christophe, a figurehead of the Haitian Revolution, positioned on top of Napoleon Bonaparte, while a powerful Nina Simone stands over Queen Victoria. Each of these works is a part of the artist’s series In Praise of Midnight, acknowledging and subverting colonialism and repression.
In the next gallery, the alluring odor of sweet grass rises from Rice Grass Meadow, in which actual growing rice grass surrounds beautiful ceramic sculptures and oval plates of renowned Black women, including diver Andrea Crabtree.
The final room revels in a different monochrome immersion than the sleek black contours of The Barbershop —The Wash House is all gray. This laundromat installation, fitted out with moving washers and dryers, and signs admonishing, advising, and exposing common idioms, is a cocoon of sorts, from which one might emerge with new information, new friendships and alliances formed while the laundry tumbles. Here the viewer also sees direct reference to what was witnessed in The Encyclopedia Room, the removal/whitewashing of history. A bleach bottle label reads “Kills 99.9% of truths, archives, and inconvenient voices.”
This is powerful, even thrilling work, a fierce and fresh tomorrow created entirely by Strachen. Adding even more depth to the work are periodic performances throughout the exhibition by costumed characters inhabiting each room, performing in both spoken word and song. Riveting.
Also now open at LACMA, Grounded is a group show of 35 artists that look at the ground we inhabit as an exploration of memories, homelands, exploration, and purpose. There are so many terrific artists here, and their work dovetails to some extent with that of Strachen in regard to an exploration of colonialism and imperialism and it’s attempt to compromise or control indigenous cultures.
Nowhere is that more evident than in the absolutely mesmerizing 90-minute video installation In Pursuit of Venus by Maori artist Lisa Reihana, a mindblowing series of perfectly realized, 180-degree images that dazzle and define the impact of colonialism.
Touching upon just about any medium you can think of, from photography to painting to sculpture, the exhibiting artists offer passionate, insightful portrayal of their own experiences and a universal truth about homecoming and one’s place in the world. Along with Reihana, artists include Laura Aguilar, Clarissa Tossin, Ana Mendieta, Eamon Ore-Girón, Courtney M. Leonard, Rose B. Simpson, Leslie Martinez, Abraham Cruzvillegas, Siah Armajani, Patrick Martinez, Jackie Amézquita, Narsiso Martinez, Michael Alvarez, Nery Gabriel Lemus, Guadalupe Rosales, Guillermo Bert, Mercedes Dorame, Connie Samaras, Beatriz Cortez, and Carmen Argote.
The Day Tomorrow Began runs through March 29, 2026; Grounded through June 21th. Both are must-sees, and highly pertinent to this moment in time.
- Genie Davis, photos by Genie Davis
