Exhibition of Paintings by CCSU Art Department Chair Presents Powerful Images Inspired by Slavery-Era advertisements; Scheduled for New Britain’s Downtown Gallery

NEW BRITAIN – (August 22, 2008) – “Dark Matter,” an exhibition of the works of Central Connecticut State University Art Department chair Cora Marshall will be featured at New Britain’s Downtown Gallery, 117 West Main Street, September 4-October 23.   Dr. Marshall will attend the opening day reception which is scheduled for 4:30-7 p.m.

The exhibition is about finding what is missing, said Marshall. Two of those things are stories from her enslaved ancestors and the particulars of her African national heritage. To find these missing pieces, she uses paint and other materials, to adopt, adapt, and bring to life lost stories from the dark history of slavery as she fuses connections to her ancestry one brush stroke at a time.

The artist’s previous mixed media painting series, Runaway: Going, Going, Gone was recognized by the White House as part of the 81st Celebration of African American History. Elements of that series will be part of the Dark Matter exhibit.  Based on ads that appeared in the 18^th and early 19^th centuries, the paintings depict enslaved men and women who had escaped captivity.  Marshall said that she centers her work in spirituality and creates art that seeks out the connections to and lessons from her past. By mixing symbols and meaning, by affirming the potency of the spirits, by honoring the holy,” she said she is “extending an invitation to contemplate the significance and depth of the power within.”

Another area of mystery for Marshall is cultural grounding in a particular African heritage because, like many African Americans, she does not know her family’s exact country of origin. To fill this void, she “looks for connections to African spiritual traditions and images in a variety of cultures and explores “symbolism, icons, affects and effects that resonate within.”

The exhibition’s title is taken from the term scientists use to describe one of the most mysterious things in the universe—dark matter, the so-called “missing mass” of the cosmos which cannot be observed except for its actions on surrounding stars and galaxies.

For more information about Professor Marshall and additional examples of her art, please see:  www.art.ccsu.edu/marshallc/default.html and www.coramarshall.com.

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