New art exhibit at UNE to trace the history of the black Atlantic

The University of New England Applied Arts and Social Justice certificate program will host an opening reception for a new art exhibit entitled “(Re)Building Memory: A Trajectory of the Black Atlantic” on Thursday, September 11, 2014 from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. on the fourth floor of Hersey Hall on UNE’s Portland Campus.

The exhibit will feature the work of local artist Paula Gerstenblatt. The opening reception is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served.

The exhibit will be mounted in Hersey Hall and Parker Pavilion and will remain installed through November. It features collages of mixed-media artwork inspired by Gerstenblatt’s trip to West Africa with her biracial son to visit the forts and castles that remain from the slave trade that brought Africans to the Americas. 

Drawing from Gerstenblatt’s Ghana and Senegal series the collages combine to tell the story of the African American experience, from West Africa to the American South.

Gerstenblatt, an assistant professor in the School of Social Work at the University of Southern Maine and a professional artist, has spent nearly three decades focusing her work on macro community practice throughout the United States and West Africa. This exhibit fuses Gerstenblatt’s passion for social justice and art.