by Jeroslyn JoVonn
February 6, 2026
The Howard College Gallery of Artwork is lending three works by iconic alumna Elizabeth Catlett to the “She Speaks” exhibit.
The Howard College Gallery of Artwork is lending three works by legendary artist and alumna Elizabeth Catlett to a brand new exhibit celebrating the facility of Black womanhood throughout historical past.
Opening Feb. 7 on the Banneker-Douglass-Tubman Museum in Annapolis, Maryland, “She Speaks: Black Ladies Artists and the Energy of Historic Reminiscence” will characteristic three works by Elizabeth Catlett: “My Proper is a Way forward for Equality with Different People,” “My Function Has Been Necessary within the Battle to Manage the Unorganized,” and “In Sojourner Reality I Combat For the Rights of Different Ladies.” The inclusion of Catlett’s items highlights Howard College’s enduring function in nurturing Black creative excellence and cements her legacy as one of the crucial influential Black artists of the twentieth century.
“Elizabeth Catlett’s work embodies the intersection of artwork, historical past, and social duty that Howard College has lengthy championed,” Kathryn Coney-Ali, co-executive director of the Howard College Gallery of Artwork, mentioned within the faculty’s announcement. “This collaboration permits our college students and the broader public to come across her work in a context that honors each her creative imaginative and prescient and her legacy as an artist and educator.”
The exhibition brings collectively Black ladies artists throughout historical past, that includes each modern and internationally acknowledged creators whose work explores reminiscence, resistance, and the long run via a Black feminist lens. Spanning over two centuries of American historical past, “She Speaks” demonstrates how artwork can function a strong software for capturing historical past and sharing tradition aesthetically, particularly via the lens of Black ladies.
A 1935 Howard College cum laude graduate, Catlett grounded her work as a sculptor and graphic artist in depicting Black life and labor, creating visually hanging items that mixed social duty, political readability, and a steadfast dedication to Black experiences.
“She Speaks: Black Ladies Artists and the Energy of Historic Reminiscence” can be on view via Jan. 16, 2027, with interpretive programming scheduled all year long.
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