Landry Butler to Exhibit 'Toward the Dawn (Vers l’aube)' at Customs House Museum

Landry Butler’s Toward the Dawn uses decades of his own dreadlocks to explore identity, memory, and the rich spectrum of diasporic Black experience.

Landry Butler’s 'Toward the Dawn' uses decades of his own dreadlocks to explore identity, memory, and the rich spectrum of diasporic Black experience.

NASHVILLE, TN, UNITED STATES, April 21, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Artist Landry Butler will present his latest work, 'Toward the Dawn (Vers l’aube),' in the 2025 multimedia exhibition 'Embracing Blackness: Diasporic Realities,' opening May 10 at the Customs House Museum & Cultural Center in Clarksville, Tennessee. The exhibit, curated by Karlota Contreras-Koterbay and Carlton Wilkinson, explores the inclusive and expansive nature of Blackness, and its capacity to unify and enrich a tapestry of diasporic cultural identities.

'Toward the Dawn (Vers l’aube)' is a deeply personal and meditative piece created from a spectrum of black-to-gray dreadlocks, shorn from Butler’s own head over a period of more than three decades. Affixed with linen thread to canvas, the 16×20-inch work evokes the tonal gradation of black-and-white photography and the symbolic language of the 'I Ching'. The piece stands as a celebration of multiplicity — of culture, memory, and form — through the intimate medium of the artist’s own body.

In the words of the curators, the exhibition “revolves around inclusion, assertions of the vital reality of Blackness’ inclusive capacity to embrace cultures, amalgamations of various hues in its veins, intertwining black, brown, yellow, red and white in all its glory … without diminishing their value but rather enriching them to their highest potentials.”

'Embracing Blackness: Diasporic Realities' is part of a broader series of exhibitions and community engagements linked to the '100 Years History of Black Craft Artists in Tennessee 1920–2022,' a research and exhibition initiative led by Tennessee Craft and ETSU BIPOC art historian Karlota Contreras-Koterbay. This four-year endeavor includes public talks, art demonstrations, educational publications, and an image-rich database chronicling the legacy of Black craft artists throughout the state.

Exhibition Dates:
Opening Reception: Saturday, May 10, 2025, 5–7 p.m.
On view through July 27, 2025
Customs House Museum & Cultural Center
200 S 2nd St, Clarksville, Tenn. 37040

For media inquiries, images, or further information, please contact Landry Butler at landry@landrybutler.com.

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