'Do Not Destroy' - Sadie Barnette's Latest Exhibition Explores Dialogue Between Father and Daughter
NEW YORK, United States — What a childhood to grow up in a home with a father who led the Compton, California chapter of the Black Panther Party in the late 1960s. Add to that, a father who was surveyed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation for his involvement in said Black Panther Party.
Photo Courtesy of Baxter St CCNY
That and much more is the study of Sadie Barnette's first solo exhibition entitled Do Not Destroy held at the Baxter St Camera Club of New York's downtown gallery space. Curated by Alexandra Giniger, the exhibition incorporates enlarged polaroid prints as well as dozens of pages of FBI file providing just a glimpse at the 500-page folder initiated on her father.
Photo Courtesy of Baxter St CCNY
Splatters of pink glitter and metallic rhinestones contrast the gravity of the black-and-white documents, an approach Oakland, California-born Barnette nimbly employs throughout the varied pieces to insert her imagination into that of her father's. A single page marked with a 'Do Not Destroy, Historical Value' stamp signifies Barnette's reclamation of power against repressive forces that sought to annihilate her father and the Black Panther Party. Connecting time and space and circumstance from the past fifty-seven years to that of today's civil unrest through her own multi-generational lens is Barnette's virtuosity. Her exhibition is a must-see; in fact, Do Not Destroy is a must-read.
Discover Sadie Barnette's Do Not Destroy through February 18 at Baxter St CCNY, a gallery on 126 Baxter Street in New York.