A Movement in Every Direction: Legacies of the Great Migration

April 13, 2024–September 22, 2024

A Movement in Every Direction: Legacies of the Great Migration illuminates the enduring impressions of the Great Migration through the eyes and work of twelve contemporary artists.

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Installation view, A Movement in Every Direction: Legacies of the Great Migration, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, April 13–September 22, 2024.
Installation view, A Movement in Every Direction: Legacies of the Great Migration, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, April 13–September 22, 2024.
Installation view, A Movement in Every Direction: Legacies of the Great Migration, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, April 13–September 22, 2024.

Upcoming
Films
Upcoming
Events
Selected
Objects
Past
Films
Past
Events

Past Events

Saturday, September 21, 1:30 PM
A Movement in Every Direction: Artist and Curator Roundtable

This roundtable discussion convenes the cocurators of A Movement in Every Direction, Jessica Bell Brown and Ryan N. Dennis, and artists Torkwase Dyson and Carrie Mae Weems. Moderated by Anthony Graham, BAMPFA Senior Curator, the program offers reflections on the exhibition, from its planning and development to the impact of its ongoing national tour.

BAMPFA

Presented in partnership with UC Berkeley's Townsend Center for the Humanities
Saturday, September 14, 11:30 AM-1:00 PM
Gallery + Studio—Mystic Travels: Stories of Migration, Vacation, and Rest

Inspired by the work of artists reflecting on the Great Migration, make a narrative shadow-box diorama that explores your own migration story.

BAMPFA

For ages 6–12 with accompanying adult(s)
Saturday, September 7, 1:30 PM
American Sign Language Exhibition Tour of A Movement in Every Direction: Legacies of the Great Migration

Patricia Lessard offers American Sign Language interpretation for a graduate student–led tour of the exhibition. All visitors are welcome.

BAMPFA
Friday, August 16, 7:30 PM
Brontez Purnell

Brontez Purnell and his five-piece band perform songs by his uncle J. J. Malone, a blues musician who migrated to Oakland from Alabama in the 1960s. Presented in conjunction with the exhibition A Movement in Every Direction: Legacies of the Great Migration.

BAMPFA

Programmed by Sean Carson
Saturday, July 13, 11:30 AM–1:00 PM
We Go: Ancestors Go Where the Indigo Flow

Trace a migratory history by combining meaningful images and objects into an expressive tapestry made on indigo-dyed canvas.

BAMPFA

For ages six to twelve with accompanying adult(s)
Saturday, June 15, 1:30 PM
Film Screening and Conversation: Akea Brionne and Jamea Richmond-Edwards

A screening of films by Akea Brionne and Jamea Richmond-Edwards, two of the artists featured in A Movement in Every Direction: Legacies of the Great Migration, followed by a conversation with both artists and Senior Curator Anthony Graham.

BAMPFA
Thursday, June 13, 7:00 PM
Daughters of the Dust

A film experienced in sequences, from the perspective of several generations of women, including an unborn daughter, Daughters of the Dust creates a fabric of universal themes: the conflicts between personal and collective history, and between spiritual and industrial life.

BAMPFA

Presented in conjunction with A Movement in Every Direction: Legacies of the Great Migration
Select Wednesdays, Sundays, and First Free Thursdays
Exhibition Tour: A Movement in Every Direction: Legacies of the Great Migration

Join us for exhibition tours of A Movement in Every Direction: Legacies of the Great Migration on selected Wednesdays at 12:15 and Sundays at 2:00, led by UC Berkeley graduate students.

BAMPFA
Thursday, May 2, 12 PM
Curator’s Tour: Matthew Villar Miranda on A Movement in Every Direction

Curatorial Associate Matthew Villar Miranda, who helped organize BAMPFA’s presentation of A Movement in Every Direction, leads a tour in dialogue with exhibition themes of refuge, agency, community, and memory.

BAMPFA
Saturday, April 13, 11 AM–7 PM
Free Community Day: A Movement in Every Direction: Legacies of the Great Migration

Celebrate the opening of A Movement in Every Direction: Legacies of the Great Migration with free gallery admission to the public on Saturday, April 13, from 11 AM to 7 PM.

BAMPFA
Saturday, April 13, 2 PM
Curator’s Tour: Anthony Graham on A Movement in Every Direction

Senior Curator Anthony Graham, who organized BAMPFA’s presentation of the exhibition, discusses the themes of A Movement in Every Direction and offers insights and observations about selected artworks.

BAMPFA
Thursday, April 11–Friday, April 12, 11 AM–7 PM
Preview Day: A Movement in Every Direction: Legacies of the Great Migration

Member-exclusive preview day of A Movement in Every Direction: Legacies of the Great Migration

BAMPFA

For BAMPFA members and UC Berkeley students, faculty, and staff.

Past Films

A Movement in Every Direction: Legacies of the Great Migration

April 13, 2024–September 22, 2024

A Movement in Every Direction: Legacies of the Great Migration illuminates the enduring impressions of the Great Migration through the eyes and work of twelve contemporary artists. Between 1915 and 1970, in the wake of racial violence and pervasive inequalities, nearly half of the country’s African American population left their homes in the rural South. Many migrated to cities like Chicago, Detroit, New York, Los Angeles, and Houston, while others relocated within the South. Between 1940 and 1970, the Bay Area’s own Black American population increased by nearly 300,000. The Great Migration transformed the economic, cultural, social, political, and ecological makeup of the United States.

This extensive dispersal of people across the country altered nearly every aspect of Black life and culture. By exploring very personal and at times difficult histories, the artists consider how reverberations from the Great Migration continue to affect their lives and the lives of many Black Americans. A Movement in Every Direction reveals lesser-known stories of this unprecedented phenomenon. It honors the paths, decisions, and sacrifices of ancestors; their pursuit of their hopes and dreams; and the brighter tomorrows they imagined for themselves and their loved ones.

This exhibition features newly commissioned works across media by twelve artists, including Akea Brionne, Mark Bradford, Zoë Charlton, Larry W. Cook, Torkwase Dyson, Theaster Gates Jr., Allison Janae Hamilton, Leslie Hewitt, Steffani Jemison, Robert Pruitt, Jamea Richmond-Edwards, and Carrie Mae Weems.

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Download the exhibition brochure (PDF)

A Movement in Every Direction: Legacies of the Great Migration is co-organized by the Mississippi Museum of Art and the Baltimore Museum of Art. The exhibition is co-curated by Ryan N. Dennis, former Chief Curator and Artistic Director of the Center for Art and Public Exchange at the Mississippi Museum of Art, and Jessica Bell Brown, Curator and Department Head of Contemporary Art at the Baltimore Museum of Art. The presentation at the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive is organized by Anthony Graham, Senior Curator, with Matthew Villar Miranda, Curatorial Associate.

Support is provided by the Ford Foundation, Teiger Foundation, Henry Luce Foundation, Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Bloomberg Philanthropies, National Endowment for the Humanities, and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Additional support for the presentation at BAMPFA is provided by the Constance Chang Fund.