Exhibition Review: Where Being Takes Root
- mungowona
- Jun 5
- 4 min read
“I fall in love a little just a little bit, everyday with someone new,” Hozier sang. Today I did too, with people I met and people I encountered only through their art. The exhibition Where Being Takes Root was a peek into the life of Larry Walker(1935–2023) and his family. A prominent figure in the Atlanta art scene, his collection was a time capsule that invited wonder at every turn. Art collections do this well, especially with masterful curation, so thank you Lauren Jackson Harris. The exhibition felt immersive, like I was in the space learning the circumstances that birthed the art, having conversations with the artists.
Dana Walker, Portrait of Larry Walker, 1984, Sepia tone photograph
The first room was the “Family Affairs” room where I witnessed work created by Larry, his wife Gwen, and his award-winning daughter Kara. The room felt warm, or at least my heart did, knowing that art was a familial endeavour for the Walkers. I wondered to myself what the conversations were like at the dinner table, or if they even had dinner together at a table. I was in that room, captivated by how they lived, or at least my sense of it. Art was being created constantly in the family, an ebb and flow that included exploration of different media. What struck me most was Larry's willingness to move between mediums, subjects, and approaches. Modern-day art markets often reward artists for developing a recognizable signature style, but this collection revealed an artist committed to exploration. It was reassuring to see that artistic growth did not require remaining the same
Larry Walker, Children of Society Series #3, 1969-71, Charcoal and Conté crayon on paper
Just as I began imagining life in the Walker home, my wondering was interrupted by images of the collection sitting in their house just as it was before it was gifted to the Georgia State University Gallery. That was such a blessing. Getting to see the space that a maker inhabited is such a joy for me. I have always had voyeuristic tendencies. Even when I drive down my street, I love to see inside people’s homes when they have their living room lights on. I love the different design choices and how their individuality shines through. I do also experience a lot of Sonder when I am in the wild, so I like to say this voyeurism is connected to my love for knowing people and learning their incredible stories. We have so many stories and stories are the driving force of humanity. Some of the oldest remnants of our ancestors that we have are stories.
Video of the rooms in Larry and Gwen's house
Wangechi Mutu in her TedX talk spoke about this, how cave paintings were communications into the future by those who came before us. Mutu’s observation reframed the exhibition for me. Every artwork in the gallery felt like a message sent forward through time, carrying evidence of what someone loved, feared, questioned, or believed. I had so many conversations across the space-time continuum standing in the Ernest G Welch Gallery Space
The second room was full of works that Larry owned, all with a little inscription of how he was connected to the work. I especially loved this aspect, again, maybe because it was clueing me into the kind of relationships that surrounded Mr. Walker and that was satisfying my sonder. I encountered mostly artists that I did not know, all from different times, some deceased, some living. All telling their story, Radcliff Bailey, Lucinda Bunnen, Bethany Collin, Freddie Styles. I am discovering that is something that I appreciate too. The serendipity of all those artists making their way to Larry’s collection one way or another, and then now being in the permanent collection of the GSU Gallery. It’s all connected. That’s what I have been on about.
The order of the rooms was also masterfully arranged by the curator because it echoes the order of the world. You begin with family and then branch outward into the wider world, encountering other people and their stories.
Lucinda Bunnen, Nellie Mae Rowe’s Hands, 1975, Gelatin silver print
I met a few artists, too, whose processes I also fell in love with. One in particular, who is a Nigerian man who talked about time, space-time, and all the mystical things. He is a former neuroscientist with 4 years of experience and hearing him bridge art and neuroscience filled me with so much glee. He touched on bits of information I had been needing to discuss with someone for a while. So, I hope to talk to him even more about all this. I’ll keep you updated
Overall, the exhibition reminded me that collecting and creating art are both acts of preservation. They are a wonderful way to create a time capsule of the time in which you lived and the things you loved, feared, questioned, or believed. You can say a lot even years into the future by the choices you make in art you make and art you collect. Humans are storytellers; we love stories. In a time where people are actively trying to erase the real stories that people lived, document yourself and your experience on this earth. As Zora Neale Hurston has said, "If you are silent about your pain, they'll kill you and say you enjoyed it”.
So I urge you to leave something behind that allows someone, years from now, to fall in love with your story too.
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