The Frary Gallery at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg Center in Washington, D.C., will host its first solo exhibition, titled "Ceremony," by award-winning painter Lindsay Adams, opening October 29. The show features paintings and drawings that explore Black histories, movement, and world-building, including a large 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 will also be on view to provide historical context.
This exhibition matters because it brings a communal and sensory experience to the Hopkins Bloomberg Center, tapping into jazz and Black histories to highlight how art can be cathartic and help communities cope with hardship and discrimination. Adams, an artist of growing international acclaim, uses abstraction to imagine spaces of self-determination and agency for Black communities, connecting contemporary art with historical struggles and creative resilience.