Artist Vicki Meek Transforms the Nasher Museum Into a Colorful Space of Healing

With less people able to pay a visit to museums amid the pandemic, Dallas’ beloved Nasher Sculpture Center is making great local art and culture as accessible as possible. Nasher Public, a two-pronged public art initiative, will showcase established and emerging North Texas talent each month. The latest installation, Stony the Road We Trod, sees artists Vicki Meek transforming a sun-soaked gallery in the Dallas Arts District into a colorful, optimistic place for healing.

The show’s title is a line from “Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing,” the Black national anthem, and inspired Meek, whose has spent her career studying the history of African art and culture, to create a shrine to Black America. Colors and elements — a Mende helmet mask, peat moss, white roosters — are emblematic of traditional African culture and American history, and a reminder to stay connected with past generations.

“I feel like our ancestors are where we gather strength,” Meek says in the video below. “I think when people see it, hopefully it will be beautiful, it will be calming, it will be a statement on Black lives mattering.”

Visitors to the latest Nasher Public exhibit, which runs from January 7 to February 14, are invited to write their own affirmation to the Black community on slips of gold paper provided at the gallery. For more information on Vicki Meek and Stony the Road We Trod, visit the Nasher’s site, or give this video — narrated by Meek for museum — a watch.