The Bottom: Stories from the Neighborhood

The Bottom: Stories from the Neighborhood

Good Black Art’s first institutional exhibition features the works of Ahmad George and Erin LeAnn Mitchell, in conversation with works by Beauford and Joseph Delany and Ruth Cobb, and explores the endurance of neighborhood life beyond destruction.

In Southern Black communities, our stories aren't simply passed down from one generation to the next—they serve as maps with markers for our future. This truth is evident in The Bottom, a neighborhood in East Knoxville, Tennessee. Despite its demolition in the 1950s due to urban renewal and systemic racism, its legacy lives on.
Map of the Bottom, Erin LeAnne Mitchell 

 

Curated by Good Black Art and grounded in the research of Dr. Enkeshi El-Amin, a local sociologist specializing in race, place, and Black communities, "The Bottom: Stories from the Neighborhood" is an exhibition that delves into life in the neighborhood beyond its destruction. While it highlights the narrative of Knoxville, it resonates with Black, Brown, Indigenous, and underprivileged communities across different times and places. The exhibition presents both familiar and imaginative interpretations by two Southern artists through a dialogue of folklore and futurism, drawing from oral histories of former residents and archival sources from The Bottom.

 

 Hadacol, Ahmad George

 

This exhibition also features works by Knoxville natives and renowned artists Beauford and Joseph Delaney, as well as former Bottom resident Ruth Cobb. The Bottom: Stories from the Neighborhood will be on view for the summer at University of Tennessee’s Downtown Gallery.

 

Artwork Images 

Installation Images