Artist Talk at Muhammad Ali Center to Reflect on Desegregation at UK

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Feb. 24, 2020) — This Friday, Feb. 28, the University of Kentucky Office for Institutional Diversity and the UK Alumni Association invite the community to the Muhammad Ali Center in Louisville for a reception, gallery viewing and panel discussion with Washington, D.C.-based artist Imar Hutchins and UK President Eli Capilouto.

"History Then and Now: The Desegregation of the University of Kentucky" will feature a pre-event reception and gallery viewing at 5:30 p.m. followed by an artist talk with Hutchins and Capilouto at 6:30 p.m. The event and reception are free to attend but RSVP is required because space is limited.

Hutchins is the grandson of Lyman T. Johnson, who was the first African American to attend UK in 1949 after a successful legal challenge that resulted in the integration of the university. Last year, Hutchins was commissioned by UK to create a portrait of his grandfather as part of the university's 70 year-anniversary of integration. The collage portrait was unveiled at the university's Lyman T. Johnson Torch of Excellence Awards in October, and was then sent to the Ali Center as part of Hutchins' "Inheritance" exhibit, where it will remain on display through April 19. The artwork will return to UK and be installed permanently in the Lyman T. Johnson residence hall later this year.

Friday's discussion will focus on the desegregation of UK, and Johnson’s role in that effort.

"I am grateful for Imar’s insight, and grateful to serve a campus that continues to make impressive strides to create a place of belonging," said Sonja Feist-Price, UK vice president for institutional diversity. "In emulating Lyman T. Johnson, we must continue to live a legacy of empathy, integrity, and diligence. We must remain committed in our efforts to create an environment in which everyone — regardless of how they look, what they believe, where they are from, or how they identify — feel a deep sense of value and belonging."

"The Muhammad Ali Center is honored for the opportunity to share the ‘Inheritance’ exhibit with our many visitors,” said Jeanie Kahnke, senior director of public relations and external affairs at the center. "We are grateful to Imar for entrusting us with his remarkable artwork. As a brand new stop on the U.S. Civil Rights Trail, the Ali Center is proud to showcase exhibits and programming related to important historical figures who have advanced social justice during the civil rights era.”

Fusing together his prolific printmaking practice with his signature work as a collagist, Hutchins passes learned wisdom along to future generations through his mixed media portraiture. Each portrait in his "Inheritance" exhibit depicts a person of supreme significance. Included in this collection is the portrait of his grandfather, Lyman T. Johnson, which he titled "I lived half of my life in the darkness, and half in the light."

"This is what he used to say at the end of his life, roughly 45 years in each (half)," Hutchins said about his grandfather, who died in 1997 at age 91. "What he's saying is that he lived to see the same kind of power structure that threatened his very life (to) naming schools and streets after him. He was mindful of how tenuous the gains were."

When looking at the piece from several feet away, it appears upbeat, with a vibrantly yellow background and an older Johnson's face, laughing. But upon closer inspection of the collage, the viewer will see it is compiled of pieces of hate mail received by Johnson, along with various photos and other historical documents from throughout his life.

According to Hutchins, his grandfather continued to receive hate mail well into the 1990s. When asked why he chose to use those letters in the piece, Hutchins said "because it exists."

"If it's bothersome to someone, then history is bothersome," Hutchins said. "Showing this hate mail is just an example of telling what happened. Not saying what happened doesn't change the fact that it happened. But maybe (showing) it allows people to learn from it."

"That challenge of pulling together information — photographs, letters, correspondence, materials that speak to the bigger picture of who these people are — is a rather intriguing way of not just making a picture of someone and how they look, but what were their achievements, what were their struggles," said Stuart Horodner, director of the UK Art Museum. "In this case, I think he's done all of that with the portrait of Lyman T. Johnson."

Hutchins says he's very proud of his work, and he thinks his grandfather would be gratified by it. But he also thinks his grandfather would stress that there is still so much more work to be done.

"What he's challenging us to do is rise above it," Hutchins said. "How could someone endure all these things and not be hard-hearted like the person who might have done it? You can say he still maintained his spirit, despite all that. That's part of the lesson for us."

Register here for this Friday's reception and artist talk featuring Hutchins and Capilouto.