Shinique Smith: Grace Stands Beside

On View at The Baltimore Museum of Art March 15 - August 9, 2020

Taking the form of a deity-like figure, Shinique Smith’s newest sculpture, Grace stands beside, is a monument to Grace—defined by the artist as “a complex state of being that Black people and others who have endured tragic prejudice have embodied to survive and to rise beyond.” Smith created the sculpture with Baltimore residents’ donated fabric and clothing after reflecting on her layered feelings and memories of sculptures past and present in Baltimore City, where she grew up and attended Maryland Institute College of Art. The sculpture’s title, Grace stands beside, reclaims language from an inscription on the base of a Confederate monument that stood on Mount Royal Avenue until its removal in 2017. The inscription, “Glory stands beside our grief,” referenced the sculpture’s depiction of Glory as an angel holding a dying Confederate soldier while raising a laurel crown, or symbol of Victory.

Curated by Cecilia Wichmann, Associate Curator of Contemporary Art.