"Sacred Spaces" exhibit at Annapolis museum honors legacies of prominent Black Marylanders
The art show, which opened in mid-February, celebrates and honors historic landmarks and prominent Marylanders whose legacy should never be forgotten.
"Sacred Spaces is really an exhibit delving into the importance of cultural spaces that are particularly important to African Americans," said Martina Dodd, the curator of collections and exhibitions at the museum. "We have to be in charge of the narrative that empowers us."
Dodd said these spaces and prominent figures can get lost, and the goal of the three-floor art show is to remember their legacies.
Jabari Jefferson is a Washington, D.C.-based visual artist who uses recycled material, clothing and even soil in his more than 15 works included in the show.
His work not only shows the history of the museum but also the lives of Benjamin Banneker, Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman.
"I was quite shocked of how many awesome people, historical legends, were born and came through this land," Jefferson said. "It truly was being influenced by a wow factor of history I never learned…We have to talk about these people. We have to make it about Maryland."
The art show is housed in a sacred space itself. The museum is located at the site of the former Mt. Moriah A.M.E. Church, which was founded by freed Black slaves in the late 1800s. The house of worship was almost destroyed 100 years later, but after a preservation act, it was saved and turned into the state's official Museum of African American History and Culture. It reopened in the 1980s.
"We think it's important that we are in this space that has so much history and legacy because it speaks to the importance of preservation," Dodd explained.
The show's centerpiece is an 18-foot tapestry that hangs over the former altar of the church. Jefferson said he worked with neighbors who brought in their own materials to repurpose in the piece, which depicts a library scene with a Sankofa bird at the center. It's the only bird that can fly forward while looking back.
"Through the installation we were able to include the public, include the people of Annapolis, include the people of Maryland, to actually walk with me step by step in my process in how I go through collecting these recycled materials, breaking them down and turning them into a work of art," Jefferson said.
Jefferson and the museum hosted several workshops to allow members of the public a chance to participate. Jefferson said all of the recycled materials in the show are from Maryland.
The tapestry also features an augmented reality video created by Raunjiba Creative in Baltimore to preserve the history of the church.
When art lovers arrive, they will see a QR code on the wall. After scanning it, an app is downloaded on their phone. Through the app, visitors can "scan" the tapestry, and an animated video will pop up, explaining the history of the building, its origin as a church and how it became a museum.
"The history of the museum, like so many other components of African American history, went through these trials and tribulations of burying it…in other words, erasing what it had been and what it had stood for when it was erected," said Scott Tucker, creative director of Raunjiba Creative. "This not only gave us an opportunity to show that, but also the success."
The museum and Sacred Spaces seemingly run parallel to each other, both celebrating and honoring the people and places that laid the foundation.
"African American history is Maryland, and American history," Dodd said. "The more that we can connect with others, the more we can learn about ourselves, the more we can learn about our state, and then we can also really think about how we can build as a community."
Sacred Spaces is open through December 2025. The Banneker-Douglass-Tubman Museum also has programs and other events as part of the exhibition.
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