Artist's Reception: Saturday, May 3, 2008 5-8 PM
A Washington, D.C. native, Michael Platt is widely known and celebrated for his prints and drawings. Throughout his career, his images have been grounded in figurative exploration of marginalized populations with a particular focus on the history of Africa and the African Diaspora. In recent years, his work has centered on ritual and the transformation of the human spirit that occurs in confrontation with such fundamental human conditions as displacement and the ensuing longing for home.
Lost and Found centers on work made in collaboration with poet and Howard University professor Carol Beane. The historical and contemporary traumas of American slavery and Hurricane Katrina are the implied backdrop for a stunning installation in which a New Orleans style shotgun house is surrounded by prints of female figures on translucent polycloth. Whether fugitives from slavery or disaster, the figures are displaced, lost, fearful, and yearning. The obscured shotgun house, representing home, is seen but not accessible, telegraphing futility and despair while suggesting the possibility of hope, celebration, reflection, and return.
H&F Fine Arts
3311 Rhode Island Avenue
Mount Rainier, MD 20712
(301) 887-0080
Wed-Fri 11-7, Sat 10-5, Sun 11-3, Closed Mon and Tues
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