Souvenir I 1997

Curator: Standing before us is Kerry James Marshall's "Souvenir I," completed in 1997. It's currently housed right here at the MCA Chicago. Editor: It's striking! A quiet, domestic scene imbued with a deep, unsettling sense of loss. The flat planes, the restrained color palette, and the shimmering textures all contribute to an atmosphere of both mourning and remembrance. Curator: Exactly. Marshall uses this deceptively simple interior space as a backdrop to explore collective memory and the legacies of the Civil Rights Movement. Note the portraits floating near the ceiling—martyrs of the movement rendered almost ethereal. They function like ancestral presences overlooking the present. Editor: The composition itself is fascinating. The figure, rendered in his signature black-on-black style, blends almost seamlessly with their surroundings, drawing our eye toward other elements: a poster bearing portraits and text, garlands with sparkling dots… Curator: Ah, the “We Mourn Our Loss” poster; it links the painting to a specific historical context—the assassinations of prominent figures, yes. But it's more than just a historical marker. Consider how Marshall’s employment of decorative craft motifs, like the gold glitter, elevates this space beyond the mundane and into the realm of sacred ritual. The flower arranging has been used for years to create a dialogue about wealth and privilege. He questions this paradigm in several works by creating luxurious textures of a working-class Black woman and showing her love, but with tragedy hanging above her. Editor: The materiality adds to the narrative, absolutely. He masterfully juxtaposes the flatness of the acrylic with those glittery, almost frivolous embellishments, highlighting both absence and the performative nature of mourning. This creates dissonance, inviting the viewer to reconcile personal memory with inherited trauma. This piece is a striking study of how meaning can arise from the interaction of its composite, formal elements. Curator: The wallpaper too! It appears cheerful and decorative, but through that lens of inherited trauma you mention, a darker reading begins to emerge. These spaces have echoes of joy and sorrow, but with so many members gone now from this place. Editor: Absolutely, each tiny glittery dot on the ceiling transforms into a symbol in a language of loss that requires no words to be read; quite effective. The image asks: “what do we memorialize?” I’ll have to think about it long after my viewing experience has concluded today. Curator: Yes. And what responsibility do we carry for the past as it echoes in the present? Powerful indeed.