On July 21, 2020, Antione Lacey’s photographic exhibit “Muse: Fade to Black” was honored by Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome at the Goodwood Library. From July 1st to July 31st, the exhibit was available for the general public to experience and “feel what the images express before their eyes.” Nestled within the depth of Black life and culture, Antione segmented the pieces within his collection to represent “Black Love,” “Black Pain,” and “Black Joy.”
Referring to his artistic inspiration, Antione mentioned that “I define my Blackness on a deeply artistic and intensely spiritual level. Specifically, my journey as an African-American artist and all that I have overcome to get to where I am today. But, I first began exploring my identity through creative writing as a means to explore my Blackness in a very personal way through imagery, reflections, and observations. Yet, I created this photographic project to express the different levels of Blackness that resonate to me. Black culture is so vast in its nature. There are a plethora of layers, but I’ve only selected three of them to educate, enlighten, and engage viewers…Black Pain, Black Joy, and Black Love.”
For art lovers who missed the exhibit in July, it is now on display at the Bluebonnet Library until August 31st. Antione invites not only viewers from the African-American community to view his artwork, but anyone who wants to learn more about the multiplicity of the Black experience. He hopes that viewers will discover their own deeper meaning within each piece since, “It’s not about what the camera sees in its lenses, rather it’s about what your eye captures before I take the picture.”