Art Exhibit: “Across a Wide Ocean: Remarkable Stories about the Origins of Identity”

Across a Wide Ocean: Remarkable Stories about the Origins of Identity delves into the books The 1619 Project: Born on the Water by Nikole Hannah-Jones and Renée Watson and illustrated by Nikkolas Smith (Penguin Random House, 2021); and The Most Beautiful Thing by Kao Kalia Yang, illustrated by Khoa Le (Lerner Publishing, Carolrhoda Books, 2020).

Through two award-winning illustrated books visitors can explore individual accounts of people born on, or transported over, the water, revealing universal wisdom about the origins of identity. “Across a wide ocean” describes how Kao Kalia Yang’s grandmother arrived to the United States from her Hmong homeland, while ancestors of Nikole Hannah-Jones’s African protagonist were “born on the water,” only to plunge “into the teal eternity,” or reach these shores to become, as she says, the true first Americans.

ON VIEW JANUARY 27, 2024 – JANUARY 5, 2025