Artist Lindsay Adams presents her first solo exhibition, "Ceremony," at the Irene and Richard Frary Gallery at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg Center in Washington, D.C., opening October 29. The show features paintings and drawings that explore Black histories, movement, and self-determination, including a large oil diptych titled "Kind of Blue (1959)" inspired by Miles Davis' iconic album. Archival materials by Billie Holiday, Josephine Baker, and other Black artists from the Johns Hopkins Sheridan Libraries complement the exhibition, providing historical context for Adams' abstract, gestural works.
The exhibition matters because it positions Adams as an artist of growing international acclaim whose work taps into jazz and Black cultural histories to address themes of catharsis, community, and resilience in the face of discrimination. By naming her work after seminal Black artists like Miles Davis and Langston Hughes, Adams connects contemporary abstraction to a lineage of creative expression born from hardship, making the show both a personal meditation and a broader cultural statement. It also marks the Frary Gallery's first solo exhibition, signaling institutional support for emerging voices in the visual arts.