Aaron Turner, “Looking at Homer Milton Charles Sr. (Remembrance and Legacy of Fazendeville, Louisiana | 1867 – 1964),” 2022, ©Aaron R. Turner, Courtesy of the artist
Black Alchemy: Remembering Fazendeville will open on Friday, December 9, 2022 at Ogden Museum of Southern Art and exhibits photographs from Fazendeville, a former African American community in St. Bernard Parish. Although the physical community no longer exists, it remains ever-present in the memories of former residents, descendants and through plaques dedicated to its memory. Turner states, “There is a complicated narrative and context as to why the community is no longer around; it involves the community finding itself positioned on a historic war site.” He continues, “In this project, my role as the artist is to reveal what is hidden, in collaboration with history, through the photographic archive.”
To create this exhibition, Turner worked closely with Ogden Museum’s Curatorial Department, specifically Ogden Museum’s Curator of Photography, Richard McCabe. His work is also influenced by mentorship from Earlie Hudnall, Jr. of Houston, Texas.
The results from Turner’s residency will be shared with the general public during PhotoNOLA, an annual celebration of photography that is produced by the New Orleans Photo Alliance in partnership with museums, galleries and alternative venues citywide.
Black Alchemy will be on view from December 9, 2022 through January 29, 2023.
About Aaron Turner
Aaron Turner is a photographer and educator currently based in Arkansas. Aaron received his M.A. from Ohio University and a M.F.A from Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University. He was a 2018 Light Work Artist-in-Residence at Syracuse University, 2019 EnFoco Photography Fellow, a 2020 Visual Studies Workshop Project Space Artists-in-Residence, a 2020 Artist 360 Mid-America Arts Alliance Grant Recipient, the 2021 Houston Center for Photography Fellowship Recipient, and a recipient of the 2021 Creators Lab Photo Fund from Google’s Creator Labs and the Aperture Foundation.
Darryl Chappell Foundation
The mission of the Darryl Chappell Foundation is to empower Afrodescendant artists to achieve their highest potential. The foundation accomplishes this by providing funding for Artists-in- Residents program, by facilitating an Artists Talk Series, by curating an online Artists Marketplace and by providing funding for public commission art through the Fund for Community Art. The Foundation’s vision to build a community of artists who impact the world in exciting and mind-altering ways.