American Altars is my attempt at embodying a journey of cultural remembrance, ancestral grief, and the emotional reckoning required of Black people on the move in America of all generations from the post-insurrection perspective. The installation includes photographs grouped to explore the month-long journey driving 1,400 miles alone as a Black woman from Milwaukee to Clarksdale, MI ( home of the legendary crossroads, the Delta blues, and land of my father’s people); New Orleans, LA (birthplace of jazz, historically free Creole people, and unique Black cultural experience); Birmingham, AL (a living witness of the American Civil Rights and Labor movements); Atlanta, GA (a Black Mecca of culture), and Berea KY (the bluegrass state, home of the Kentucky Derby, and Appalachian stronghold where I was heading to become the inaugural artist in residence at the bell hooks center at Berea College).
Listen to Rosy Petri discuss American Altars, along with her series of portraits, Wealth of Our Nations, on the mid-day talk show A Public Affair, available to stream in the archives on the WORT-FM website.
