Designing a Black-Owned Gallery to Elevate Artists of Color
Kevin Sherrod, Chris Doerr, and Wayne Thomas are fellow alums of UCLA’s Department of Architecture and Urban Design and colleagues at Gensler LA. We sat down with them to discuss South L.A.'s Gallery 90220, a joint project created together with the support of the firm’s community impact initiative. The team leveraged the power of design to literally create space to share the stories of artists of color and invite the South Los Angeles community to experience art together. Here’s what drove their design.
Left to right: Kevin Sherrod, Gallery 90220 founder and executive director David Colbert Jr., Chris Doerr, and Wayne Thomas at the ribbon-cutting. Image by Cindy Escarcega "What drove the concept to design an art space that aims to elevate the work of Black creatives and offer a welcoming place for community gathering?
For the past year and a half, Black people’s collective pain and loss have been on full display while the world bore witness. From the COVID-19 pandemic, which continues to disproportionately claim Black lives, to the unjust killings of unarmed Black people, to the Capitol insurrection, rife with symbols of racism and hate — the world awoke to the realities of anti-Black racism and its insidious impacts on our bodies and communities.
Gallery 90220 was birthed out of the desire to create an accessible platform for emerging and underrepresented artists of color to express their truths and artistry through various mediums. Art and activism have always been intertwined in a nuanced way. Art, told through the lens of diverse voices, has a unique way of capturing the pulse of a culture and reflecting the landscape of the day — this is important to recognize more than ever.
Taking into account the events of the past year, why was this an important moment to create a hub for BIPOC artists to share their unique perspectives?
Amid multiple crises, Black artists have given voice to our shared pain and experiences in support of advocating for a more equitable and just future. In this unprecedented moment, safe cultural spaces that center the lived experiences of Black, Indigenous, and other people of color (BIPOC) and elevate our history, art, and activism, are perhaps more essential than ever.
Using physical space to act as a platform for sharing stories offers a more comprehensive approach to enhancing the health and wellness of communities in meaningful ways. Art is not a “nice to have” asset, but rather, it is a crucial outlet we can use to share collective memories, and this is enabled through the design of the gallery space itself." — Kevin Sherrod, Chris Doerr, Wayne Thomas, Jun. 15, 2021
This post is an excerpt. Read the full article on the Gensler website.
Stay engaged. Use #UCLAarts to stay connected.
