Nicoletta Darita De La Brown: Be(longing)

Unveiling the Imprint of Black Women Hidden in Plain Sight

The Winston Tabb Special Collections Research Center presents Be(longing): Unveiling the Imprint of Black Women Hidden in Plain Sight, an installation by Baltimore-based artist and Public Humanities Fellow Nicoletta Daríta de la Brown inspired by her explorations with archival materials related to Ethel Ennis, Billie Holiday, African American real photo postcards, and other special collections at the Johns Hopkins Sheridan Libraries. Through video, photographic self-portraits, and site-specific performance, de la Brown addresses culturally significant and deeply introspective questions: How many Black women are living in archives? What happens to us when we are invisible? How can I feel seen, and safe, as a Black woman? While on view, the installation will be brought to life with performances by the artist.

About the Artist

Nicoletta Darita de la Brown (Panamanian-American b. 1981) is an award-winning interdisciplinary artist and curandero chamána (shamanic practitioner). Her artworks re-conceive the life of an artist as thriving, nourishing others during and through her art practice, while healing herself in public space as a Black-Latin woman. She is Artist-In-Residence at Baltimore School for the Arts, 2022-24; Tabb Center Public Humanities Fellow at the Johns Hopkins Sheridan Libraries, 2023; Artist-In-Residence at The National Aquarium, 2023; JJC-MICA-BMA Artist-In-Residence. Former sculpture professor at Towson University and former adjunct faculty in the MFA in Community Arts Graduate Program at Maryland Institute College of Art.

De la Brown’s performances have been presented in Baltimore at the National Aquarium, Walters Art Museum, and Eubie Blake National Jazz and Cultural Center; and in Washington, D.C. at the Phillips Collection, the Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum, and the Smithsonian Arts + Industries Building.

Exhibitions of her video artworks and installations have been presented in Baltimore at the National Aquarium, the Baltimore Museum of Art, the Cardinal Gallery, the Pinkard Gallery, the Segal Gallery, Leidy Atrium, and the Maryland Institute College of Art, in addition to Bennington College Usdan Gallery in Vermont, the Tribeca Film Festival in New York, and the IA&A at Hillyer Gallery in Washington D.C. Her work is included in private and public collections including the Johns Hopkins Sheridan Libraries, GLB Memorial Foundation Collection, and the National Aquarium.

Explore the exhibition page on De la Brown’s website

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