Robert Earl Paige, Renée Stout, Jomo Tariku, and Hadiya Williams in conversation with Michelle Joan Wilkinson AT NMAAHC

In celebration of the recently released publication Making Home: Belonging, Memory, and Utopia in the 21st Century, join artists and designers Robert Earl Paige, Renée Stout, Jomo Tariku, and Hadiya Williams in conversation with Michelle Joan Wilkinson, curator at the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, as they explore ideas about home through the lens of heritage, culture, and design. The speakers will reflect on their experiences of making home through art, design, and through cultivating spaces for the nourishment of self and community. In their work, which includes textiles, altars, tablescapes, and furniture, we find examples of how each uniquely addresses refuge, ancestry, and interconnection in home living spaces and the objects they create.

The program highlights the Making Home—Smithsonian Design Triennial exhibition, a collaboration between two Smithsonian museums, Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum and the National Museum of African American History and Culture, as well as the latter’s current design exhibition, Reclaiming My Time. Signed books will be available for purchase courtesy of Smithsonian Enterprises.

Please note: This program is located offsite at the National Museum of African American History and Culture. See address and location information below.

AccessibiliTy & What to Expect

  • Format: The program will begin with a brief welcome, then the speakers will engage in a moderated conversation. It will end with an optional Q&A with the audience. 
  • About the space: This program will take place offsite at the National Museum of African American History and Culture, 1400 Constitution Ave NW, Washington, DC 20560. It is wheelchair accessible (via elevators and ramps).
  • Accommodations: For any questions about accessibility, please email us at cheducation@si.edu.
  • Recording: The program will be recorded and posted on Cooper Hewitt’s YouTube channel within three weeks.

Support 

Making Home—Smithsonian Design Triennial is presented in collaboration with Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture. This project received federal support from the Smithsonian American Women’s History Initiative Pool, administered by the Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum; the Latino Initiatives Pool, administered by the National Museum of the American Latino; the Asian Pacific American Initiatives Pool, administered by the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center; and the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture.

Generous support is provided by the Henry Luce Foundation and the Terra Foundation for American Art.

Support is also provided by the Lily Auchincloss Foundation; Edward and Helen Hintz; re:arc institute; the Keith Haring Foundation; the Lemberg Foundation; Maharam; and the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts.

Image: Nicole Crowder and Hadiya Williams, Installation of “The Offering” in Making Home—Smithsonian Design Triennial at Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum. Photo: Elliot Goldstein © Smithsonian Institution.