The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center’s permanent exhibits tell the inspiring stories of freedom’s heroes.
When you visit, you’ll learn about the harrowing journeys of Black Americans escaping slavery. You’ll find exhibits about implicit bias and the continuing struggle for racial justice.
Starting this fall, the “Free as they want to be” FotoFocus exhibit will take a more intimate approach to the lives of Black Americans through new media: photography and film.
Through personal artifacts like family photo albums and mixed media installations, the exhibit will share the social and cultural aspects of the lives of Black Americans.
“To us, ‘Free as they want to be’ means an opportunity to examine what Black life has looked like in the United States — a cultural piece separate from the history and legacy of enslavement,” says Director of Museum Experiences Katie Bramell.
While telling the Underground Railroad story is a focus of the Freedom Center’s mission, it always look for opportunities to show- case culture in a more intimate and personal way. By displaying photos of Black Americans’ homes and historical sites, they hope to emphasize the concept of daily freedoms in a powerful way.
“Tangible things like food, music and home life connect us as people,” Bramell explains. “They bring us together more than they separate, and they’re things we can share in our collective history as Americans.”
The Freedom Center has a long-standing partnership with FotoFocus, a world-renowned organization specializing in lens- based art. The 2022 FotoFocus Biennial activates more than 100 projects featuring more than 600 artists, curators and participants across Ohio and Kentucky.
Last year, FotoFocus approached the Freedom Center with the exhibit’s title and synopsis and connected them to its curators, Dr. Deborah Willis and Dr. Cheryl Finley.
Bramell and the team knew the 2022 FotoFocus Biennial would be the perfect opportunity for vivid storytelling through photography and film, a new kind of exhibit and new media formats for the museum.
“We wanted to speak to our mission of telling the story of enslavement and the Underground Railroad and take people through the timeline from the past to the present, which is a pretty big feat for a photography exhibit,” says Brammell. “We hope to encourage dialogue and artistic creativity based on what people see here.”
Throughout U.S. history, white supremacy and privilege have shaped the narratives used to portray Black Americans. Now, the Freedom Center aims to help Black Americans reclaim agency over their stories with the “Free as they want to be” exhibit — and beyond.
“[Slavery] didn’t define who they were. There were stories of triumph and celebration, and there were also moments of agency where Black Americans shaped the world around them,” says Freedom Center Vice President of Marketing and Communications Cody Hefner. “We’re now seeing the agency as Blacks in America are taking back their stories and rewriting the narrative. They’re saying,
‘We have a voice, and we’re not afraid to use it.’”
Because the exhibit will display media and art forms not typically featured at the Freedom Center, the team hopes to attract new visitors interested in film and photography — and encounter even more. The Freedom Center team seeks to have the exhibit serve as a gateway into more extensive conversations about racism, justice and activism.
“We want people to come and have conversations they have never had before,” says Bramell. “Constant exposure to these stories and this part of history builds empathy and awareness. And that’s what we hope people take away from this exhibit.”
Want to see the “Free as they want to be” exhibit at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center? Visit freedomcenter.org for ticket information.