Albany Area Arts Council to open new exhibit by local artist

ALBANY, Ga. (WALB) - The Albany Area Arts Council (AAAC) will be opening “Huemanize,” the newest exhibit, on Thursday from 6-8 p.m. at the AAAC Carnegie Building.

The exhibit by Ke’Chanbria Ball “depicts humanizing mechanisms of the African American,” the Albany Area Arts Council said in a release.

The exhibit will be open from Feb. 9-March 23 at the AAAC Carnegie Building.

Ball’s work has been exhibited virtually, locally and internationally in Georgia and China. Her work explores themes of race, culture and denotations of color.

“I want to break these stereotypical boundaries that restrict the growth and self-love of Black people,” Ball said. “My objective is to rewrite the stories of Black people through my work, which explores the complexity and duality of being a person of color, while reflecting on humanity within Blackness.”

Ball contends that imagery is something that the human experience relies on and helps a person associate the imagery with themselves and their experiences. She believes that caricatures, like blackface, golliwogs, and other offensive stereotypical imagery, have influenced society’s dehumanizing view of Black people.

“Many of my portraits are based on photographs taken of my friends, people I admire, and of other artists,” Ball said. “This connection that I have with my models is important to capturing the essence of a person. This is how I view the world and Black people and I take a softer approach to how I see Black people, while still reflecting on my own experiences. I do not see us as aggressive, lazy, thugs, ugly, that society has labeled us to be, but as hue-man beings with feelings, ideas, goals, and families.”

After opening night, the exhibit will be open Monday-Thursday from noon-4 p.m. Additional hours will be available by appointment only.