The Metro: New exhibit at The Wright honors writer and activist James Baldwin

If James Baldwin were alive today, he would have been celebrating his 100th birthday. To honor his legacy, Detroit artist Sabrina Nelson created an intimate, multi-sensory experience of the acclaimed figure.

If you’re not familiar with James Baldwin’s work, he was an American author and civil rights activist. As early as the 1950s, Baldwin’s writing posed fundamental questions about masculinity, sexuality, race and class. They were questions that influenced the civil rights and Gay liberation movements for decades to come.

Nelson is opening her traveling exhibit “Frontline Prophet: James Baldwin” at the Charles H. Wright Museum on Friday.

Nelson, as well as longtime creative allies and co-curators Ashara Ekundayo and Omo Misha, joined The Metro to talk more about Baldwin and the exhibit.

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Ekundayo described what people can discover about James Baldwin after seeing “Frontline Project.”

“Sabrina has brought to us this multifaceted, multi-sensory invitation…people will find that they can see his humanity,” Ekundayo said. “What comes out the most is…his laughter, his rage, his sensitivities, his quietness, who he is as a lover, and as a fighter, and someone who was just a deep thinker. And I think that we forget that sometimes when we…elevate or deify public figures, we forget that they’re just regular people.”

While the exhibition will showcase Baldwin’s life and humanity, it also will honor the activism he achieved through his work and as a gay, Black man in the 20th century.

“I think all artists have a responsibility to the times that they’re living in. And we certainly saw that with James Baldwin — he understood his assignment and leaned way into it,” Misha explained. “And it doesn’t mean that he always liked it. But he started that journey as an activist, as a young pastor, as a child — and he never abandoned that. And he really saw that as his role in society.”

In fact, Misha recounted and paraphrased a statement from Baldwin when she said, “But if I do my job right today, I will be here for you in the future.”

Nelson and her partners named the exhibition “Frontline Prophets: James Baldwin” because it highlights Baldwin as a prophet and activist who spread the truth.

“James Baldwin said, ‘if I love you, I get to tell you the truth,’” Nelson stated.

“Frontline Prophets: James Baldwin” opens Friday at 5:30 p.m. at The Wright in Midtown Detroit. The exhibit will run through Feb. 28, 2025. Details can be found at thewright.org.

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