Multiplicity is the first major exhibition of contemporary collage

By JANEL ST. JOHN . 09. 24. 

There is a universal language that exists among Black America that transcends geography, generations and pedigree. Take the ‘dap’ for instance, or the ‘standard’ Thanksgiving dinner menu. So there’s a great chance that if you group 49 brilliant African American artists together in one show, universal themes will emerge. Multiplicity: Blackness in Contemporary American Collage, now on view at the Phillips Collection, is a monumental exhibition that brings together more than 50 works by artists exploring diverse narratives. It’s a stunning show! Large-scale compositions comprised of paper, photographs, fabric, crystals, sequins and other materials, are spread across three floors in two buildings. There is history, nuance, metaphors, exceptional craft, and sheer beauty. There is also a monumental homage to Black-owned media!  

As the first major museum exhibition dedicated to contemporary collage, the show reflects the breadth and complexity of Black identity and experiences in the United States. It features an intergenerational mix of internationally-known, established artists like Mark Bradford, Kara Walker, Kerry James Marshall, Deborah Roberts and Derrick Adams, along with younger, up-and-coming artists. In creating works informed by their personal and collective history, these artists have boldly proclaimed that they are informed by visionary Black publishers. 

In his captivating work Jet Auto Archive—April 27, May 11, May 25, 1992 (Medicated L.A. Kente), Jamal Cyrus (b. 1973) weaves together a potent blend of memory, cultural commentary, and historical reclamation. He used strips of ads and articles from three issues from his personal collection of Jet Magazine, to reflect on the evolving identity of a publication that once championed progressive causes but later leaned into consumerism. Ebony & Jet were founded by John H. Johnson in 1945 and became the most influential African-American media enterprise. 

In this nine-foot-long collage, Cyrus cuts these fragments into strips and reassembles them using a technique he learned in Ghana to create a kente cloth-like effect. He juxtaposes black-and-white images of the 1992 L.A. riots with vibrant advertisements, highlighting the uneasy coexistence of political consciousness and capitalist agendas. Adding depth to the work, Cyrus incorporates amulets called gris gris—small boxes containing sacred texts that serve as a form of "medication" for both the injustices of the L.A. riots and the contents of the magazine. By transforming Jet's archives into this visually stunning tapestry, Cyrus offers a profound commentary on how African American histories are constructed, overlooked, and reimagined, inviting viewers to see the archive not as a static record but as a dynamic space for new narratives.

In her Jet Blue series (2018–present), trending artist Mickalene Thomas (b. 1971) departs from her practice of using models. The subjects are anonymous “Beauties of the Week” from the 1970s issues of Jet. Though highly criticized as sexist, the images also represent the magazine’s efforts - along with other Black leaders and photographers - to combat negative imagery in mainstream media, defy Eurocentric beauty standards and assert Black women into visual culture. “There was the foundation of agency,” Thomas said during a recent visit to The Phillips Collection. “All these different type of Black women talking about themselves and looking gorgeous; and they were college girls.” She elaborated on the historical impact of Ebony and Jet. “They captured the only public kiss of Dr. Martin Luther King to Coretta Scott,” she said. “And it’s amazing. You get this history.” 

Thomas, who inherited her mother’s Jet collection, was recently gifted fifty more copies. “I’m going through it and I’m looking and wondering…do they even realize what they had?” she said. “I’m looking through each page and the context is so rich. There’s no magazine, not just a Black magazine, there is not one magazine that does that. It was like wow.” In the midst of news, celebrities, gossip and profiles, 'there would be a cool recipe' she said. “There was an incredible sense of community that you felt, that we could talk about when we got to our Auntie's house."

While the influence of magazine publisher John H. Johnson, looms large, so does the legacy of Romare Bearden - the artist who single-handedly elevated the medium of collage and became the nation’s foremost collagist. "Romare Bearden, Jacob Lawrence and the generation of African American artists who came of age in the 1930s and 1940s appropriated cubist techniques developed by early twentieth-century European modernists, knowing full well that those artists had themselves been influenced by African art." (pg. 44, Multiplicity Catalogue)

"These particular artists that I’m interested in..." Thomas said - came through looking at artists like Romare Bearden and Faith Ringgold. Through Romare Bearden, I discovered Matisse, and through Matisse I discovered Manet. What I love about Bearden, is the narrative of Black America. But the formal aspects that he was borrowing from, were European."

Bearden created a distinct American art style that fused Cubism with Southern Black cultural traditions. Drawing from practices like quilt-making and the wallpapering of homes with magazine and newspaper clippings — common in African American communities — he combined these elements with the 'high-art influences' of New York. Both the collage-like layers of print media, and the fabric patchwork and patterns, parallel the visual elements in collage.  

These foundational techniques and traditions are clearly evident in the works of contemporary artists like Yashua Klos, Kara Walker, Tschabalala Self, Mark Bradford, and many other Multiplicity artists who craft poignant expressions of the human experience. Multiplicity is on view thru September 22, 2024. 

A companion exhibition, Home Coming /Home Going  is also on view at Phillips@THEARC, in Southeast DC.  Multidisciplinary artist and curator, Zsudayka Nzinga presents recent works that examine the diverse ways Black Americans define and establish “home.”