Ambrose Rhapsody Murray is a self-taught artist and seamstress who seeks to positively impact Black and brown communities through her work. In “Within Listening Distance of the Sea…”, her first solo exhibition in New York, Murray takes images of Black women and girls from the early 1900s taken by white photographers for postcards and used as pornography and tools of colonial propaganda, and swaths them in blue and purple organza. In doing so, she both offers care and protection for these figures and elevates them to a spiritual level. Along with these textile collages, the exhibition also has a film component, made in collaboration with filmmaker Logan Lynette and cultural organizer Heather Lee, “unveiling the hidden beauty of everyday lives of Black folks—their movements, clothing, hairstyles, and jewelry rhyming with elements of Ambrose’s textiles,” according to the gallery statement.
Location: Fridman Gallery, 169 Bowery, New York
Price: Free
Time: Wednesday–Sunday,11 a.m.–6 p.m.
