The Birmingham Times
The Birmingham Museum of Art (BMA) will open on August 9 a contemporary exhibition, Wall to Wall: Antoine Williams and Josiah Golson. Titled Go to the tree and get the pure sap and find out whether they were right, this site-specific installation explores Black neurodiversity through an interactive multi-media exhibition created by Florida-based artist Antoine Williams and Tennessee-based artist Josiah Golson.
As part of BMA’s ongoing series, Wall to Wall, it continues the Museum’s commitment to fostering thought-provoking, immersive experiences, while enlivening the BMA’s lobby area. A reception and panel discussion to mark the opening will be held Thursday, August 7.
“[Williams] and [Golson] have created a dynamic experience that challenges and expands the conversation around neurodiversity, encouraging everyone to think more deeply about inclusivity and accessibility in both art and our communities,” says Jade Powers, Hugh Kaul Curator of Contemporary Art at the Birmingham Museum of Art.
Williams is a multidisciplinary artist whose practice is at the intersection of cultural mythologies, critical Black study, Surrealism, and his working-class upbringing in Red Springs, North Carolina. Antoine received his MFA from UNC Chapel Hill. He has taken part in a number of residencies, including the Joan Mitchell Residency in New Orleans, The Center for Afrofuturist Studies, The McColl Center of Art and Innovation, The Hambidge Center, Loghaven Artist Residency, and Rubenstein Arts Center at Duke University.
Golson explores personal and collective narratives of identity and advocacy through drawing, painting, poetry, performance, and video. Golson returned to his hometown of Chattanooga after earning his law degree at the University of Texas in Austin. While practicing law, he founded the 800 Collective to creatively inspire and organize civic discourse and engagement. Golson then pursued an artistic practice full time to facilitate workshops through 800 Collective and to complete The Souls of Free Folk (Polyphemus Press, 2018), an illustrated book of poetry inspired by the legacy of Black art and activism.
Go to the tree and get the pure sap and find out whether they were right employs Afro-Surrealist logic and Dr. Moya Bailey’s Black Feminist Disability Framework to examine the lived experiences of Black individuals navigating ability and disability, specifically within neurodiverse communities. The installation questions the functionality of existing social structures — such as education and work culture — and whether they require reimagining, expansion, or dismantling.
The exhibition consists of three major components:
- A large-scale wheatpaste installation, The Harvesters, will be positioned in the Museum’s main lobby, featuring Surrealist imagery inspired by Zora Neale Hurston’s writings on Mother Catherine. The imagery portrays an organic ecosystem that transcends societal constraints.
- An interactive archive, known as the Garden Cart, will feature a wooden cart containing materials, texts
- Visitor engagement prompts exploring historical laws and policies affecting Black neurodiverse individuals. Visitors will interact with archival materials and contribute reflections, creating a growing dialogue on care and community resilience.
The installation will also serve as a gathering space for neurodiverse communities. In cooperation with local organizations, BMA will facilitate programming that amplifies voices within these communities.
The panel discussion on August 7 brings the artists into conversation with Dr. Michele Kong, co-founder of the Birmingham-based KultureCity, the leading global non-profit centered on disability inclusion.
5–6 p.m.: Opening Reception
6–7 p.m. Panel Discussion
Registration is required to attend these events.
To register for the opening reception, contact Dianne Williams at dwilliams@artsbma.org or 205.254.2389. To register for the panel discussion, click Register Now!
