After 10 months of closed doors and strictly virtual programming, on Wednesday, the Ackland Art Museum reopened to the public with newly implemented safety measures.
Under new protocol, the museum’s hours have been reduced to 1 to 5 p.m., Wednesday through Saturday. Visitors will be able to enter the museum for a one-hour preselected time slot. Guests can reserve tickets in advance on the Ackland’s website where admission will still be free. Tickets may be requested for parties of no more than four people per visit.
Additionally, overall museum capacity is limited to 25 percent to allow for more physical distancing throughout the building. Between each scheduled time slot, 30 minutes are reserved for cleaning. Staff and visitors are required to wear masks at all times.
With the reopening of the museum, visitors now have the chance to see their favorite exhibits in person.
Currently, one of the museums most prominent exhibits is a memorial for Breonna Taylor titled “Holding Space for Nobility.”
Shanequa Gay is the artist behind the memorial. Gay said she was looking for ways to celebrate and reverence Taylor and the Ackland provided the perfect space to do so.
“It just made sense,” Gay said. “If and when you see the exhibition, it just makes sense in the space. The images are large and monumental in scale and they are full in the room. There are realistic images of her face that I’ve painted in oil and then these acrylic bodices that she is housed in – along with a kind of sacred space of an alter that is filled with water as a representation of cleansing, as a representation of tears and as a representation of holiness.”
We are completely drawn in by this powerful image from Shanequa Gay's installation "holding space for nobility: a memorial for Breonna Taylor".
Join us Wed. (1/27) for a virtual Close Looks at Cocktail Hour about this new installation. Register for free: https://t.co/n58AZwFjNp pic.twitter.com/OIgN5Gtb0z
— Ackland Art Museum (@AcklandArt) January 25, 2021
In this immersive commission, Gay has transformed the museum’s mixed-use ART& room into an area that can “hold space” for Taylor’s memory. Through acrylics and oils, Gay renders publicly shared images of Taylor’s face from happy times in her life as a reminder of her roles as daughter, niece, friend, and, as Gay writes, “someone who was loved and is worthy of justice and being seen.”
Breonna Taylor was fatally shot by officers of the Louisville Metro Police Department after they forced entry into her home on March 13, 2020. She was twenty-six years old. In the months since her death, her story has become a part of national conversations about racial violence and an impetus for activism against systemic injustices.
“As a nation we mourned for Breonna, but instead of being in a place of grief and suffering, to see this as her transitioning and allowing me to create a space for cleansing and reconciliation,” Gay said.
While patrons are still able to virtually visit the exhibit online, Gay said some things are better seen in person.
“There is something to be said about experiencing the work in person,” Gay said. “I think there is a level of connectivity and emotion that will come just being in the space that you can’t necessarily get online.”
Breonna Taylor exhibit (Photo via Alex Maness Photography)
Public tours, on-site programs, and other in-person events are still currently suspended. To learn more about the Breonna Taylor exhibit, or to find out more about the Ackland’s continued online programming, click here.
Lead photo via Alex Maness Photography.
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