Free as They Want to Be: artists committed to memory
AUGUST 1 - 23, 2026
exhibited across three sites including Baton Rouge Gallery, Southern University, and West Baton Rouge Museum
Baton Rouge Gallery – center for contemporary art (“BRG”), Southern University, and The West Baton Rouge Museum proudly partnered on a limited-run multi-site exhibition featuring works from some of the biggest names in American art.
Free as they want to be: Artists Committed to Memory – curated by Deborah Willis, Ph.D. and Cheryl Finley, Ph.D. – is a presentation of contemporary art inspired by historical memory that considers the historic and contemporary role photography and film have played in remembering legacies of slavery. It also examines the social lives of a diverse group of Americans within various places — on the land, at home, in photographic albums, at historic sites, and in public memory.
This traveling exhibition features works from some of America’s most celebrated contemporary artists, including Bisa Butler, Carrie Mae Weems, Dawoud Bey, Hank Willis Thomas, Radcliffe Bailey, and many others. A number of themes including migration, identity, and the African diaspora are explored throughout the works. The exhibition originated at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center as part of the 2022 FotoFocus Biennial in Cincinnati, Ohio, and has since travelled across the United States before coming to Louisiana’s capital city.
Accompanying the 2022 FotoFocus Biennial exhibition, Free as They Want to Be considers the historical and contemporary role that photography and film have played in remembering legacies of slavery and its aftermath, while examining the social lives of Black Americans within various places, including the land, at home, in photographic albums, at historical sites and in public memory.
The publication, which takes its name from James Baldwin's 1961 book Nobody Knows My Name, presents some 20 artists working in photography, video, silkscreen, projection and mixed-media installation, all of which explore the possibilities of freedom. Their quest to be “as free as they want to be” is envisioned in the subject matter they explore, as well as in their drive to innovate aesthetic practices in photographic mediums.
Photographers and artists include: Terry Adkins, Radcliffe Bailey, J.P. Ball Studio, Sadie Barnett, Dawoud Bey, Sheila Pree Bright, Bisa Butler, Omar Victor Diop, Nona Faustine, Adama Delphine Fawundu, Daesha Devon Harris, Isaac Julien, Catherine Opie, Yelaine Rodriguez, Hank Willis Thomas, Lava Thomas, Carrie Mae Weems, Wendel White and William Earle Williams.
CLICK THE IMAGES BELOW FOR MORE INFORMATION
This adaptation of “Free as they want to be” for its presentation in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, saw the works thoughtfully allocated across three historically resonant sites so the original curatorial thesis literally inhabited Baton Rouge’s built memory: (1) BRG, which inhabits a former pool house that was the site of the 1963 Baton Rouge Swim-In protest; (2) Southern University, an HBCU on river-parish land shaped by plantation histories; and (3) The West Baton Rouge Museum, the only museum to trace the bittersweet history of sugar in Louisiana from the colonial period to the present day. Works from Louisiana-based artists will also supplement the works featured in the touring exhibition, adding local perspective and relevance to the exhibition.
Baton Rouge Gallery
1515 Dalrymple Drive
Baton Rouge, LA 70808
Southern University Art Gallery
8229 Elton C. Harrison Drive
Baton Rouge, LA 70807
West Baton Rouge Museum
845 N Jefferson Avenue
Port Allen, LA 70767
free SHUTTLES were available for self-guided tours
ABOUT THE PARTNERSHIP
In concert with the exhibition’s originating curators and in partnership across three local organizations situated on historically significant sites, the exhibition is being adapted for a first-of-its-kind, site-specific presentation in southern Louisiana. Led by Baton Rouge Gallery – center for contemporary art (“BRG”), this presentation simultaneously acknowledges the local relevance of the themes addressed by the originating curators while supplementing them with works from respected artists based in southern Louisiana.
This partnership and the Baton Rouge presentation of Free as They Want to Be is made possible through the generous support of:
Free as they want to be: Artists Committed to Memory originated as a FotoFocus exhibition at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, Cincinnati, Ohio on the occasion of the 2022 FotoFocus Biennial. The traveling exhibition is organized by Curatorial Exhibitions, Pasadena, California.