DOVER — In conjunction with Dover’s Citywide Black History Celebration, the Biggs Museum of American Art is presenting a series of art installations by Delaware State University fine arts professor Billy Colbert.
His exhibition entitled “Lessons: An Exhibition By Billy Colbert” incorporates rare historic video and photographs of African-American life in the United States in the early 20th century alongside artifacts of the separate and unequal educational system on loan from the African-American community of Kent County.
The exhibit brings together sculpture, home movies, oral histories, atmospheric sound, and archival photographs from the artist’s own collection to examine the complex relationship between race and education in the U.S. The landmark U.S. Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka of 1954 unanimously ruled that racial segregation in public schools was unconstitutional.
“Keeping culture alive is important to me,” Mr. Colbert said.
“For me to do something for what I may feel is an unrepresented community, my community, I felt that I needed to do it. This project is in the wheelhouse of what I handle, which is the preservation and storytelling of black culture.”
A reception for the exhibit will take place Wednesday at the Biggs Museum in Dover from 5 to 7 p.m. The event is free and open to the public. Mr. Colbert’s exhibit will run until March 29.
Mr. Colbert said he’s been collecting vintage film depicting the lives of African Americans for years.
“I was lucky enough to realize these films were going to go away,” Mr. Colbert said.
“About 15 to 20 years ago I started collecting old footage. I got it digitized and then used it in the artwork. It tells the story of people’s lives. You get a glimpse to see what life was like during that time.”
Mr. Colbert said he was able to collect the footage in various ways.