The Paul R. Jones Museum will feature the curatorial work of seven University of Alabama graduate students from March 2 to April 27.
The exhibition, “Mecca: Atlanta, Harlem, Miami and Beyond,” is the culminating project of Dr. Sharony Green’s Gender, Race, and Urban space course, which is designed to help students better understand the degree to which Harlem and Atlanta are “black meccas.”
According to a group statement, “This exhibit is a multi-layered look at the idea of mecca as revealed initially in Harlem and Atlanta, two spaces to which people of African descent have migrated since the early 20th century. Ideas about movement and community give way to deeper thoughts about self, racial and gender identity, and expectation.”
For the exhibition, each of the students selected a group of works from the Paul R. Jones Collection of American Art and wrote a personal statement discussing the nuanced themes related to meccas that were present in the works.
Final themes include community, hope, the continuation of racism, space, women, prosperity and time.
The Paul R. Jones Museum is located at 2308 Sixth St. in downtown Tuscaloosa. Museum hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and the first Friday of every month from noon to 8 p.m.