Art League Houston is proud to present, Bitter Waters Sweet, an exhibition of new work by Fort Worth artist Letitia Huckaby, the 2022 Texas Artist of the Year. In her exhibition, Letitia Huckaby explores the legacy of Africatown, the historic community near Mobile, Alabama, that was founded by a group of West African people who were trafficked to the U.S. as slaves shortly before Emancipation, and long after the Atlantic slave trade was banned. The ship that brought them, the Clotilda, was scuttled in Mobile Bay shortly after delivering its cargo in 1860 to conceal its illegal activity. The wreckage was rediscovered in 2018 and is currently the subject of active archaeological research.

Huckaby’s photographs, printed on cotton fabric, bring together the legacy of Africatown, its founders, and their descendants, with the history of the ship Clotilda and its persistent physical proximity to the community. Through her imagery and materials, her work ties the past to the present as she examines history and its contemporary connection to the black experience.

A catalog published by ALH and designed by Shefon N. Taylor will be available in mid-October in conjunction with this exhibition. The catalog includes works from the project and a critical essay by Christopher Blay, a writer, and Chief Curator at the Houston Museum of African American Culture in Houston, Texas.

Art League Houston (ALH) is proud to present, Drawn to Communities, an exhibition of photography by Houston artist Earlie Hudnall, Jr., recipient of the 2022 Lifetime Achievement Award in the Visual Arts. Earlie Hudnall, Jr. always has a camera with him. He has been actively photographing for more than 40 years. Hudnall’s work and education have taken him around the world, yet some of his most recognized photographs are of life here in Houston’s Third, Fourth, and Fifth Wards. His compelling images of families and daily life in some of the city’s most neglected neighborhoods remain as a record of these historic communities that persevere with strength, love, and dignity.

In talking about his work, Hudnall states: "I chose the camera as a tool to document different aspects of life: who we are, what we do, how we live, what our communities look like.” In an age of digital photography, Hudnall continues to shoot with film negatives and make gelatin silver prints in his own darkroom at his home in Houston’s Third Ward. ALH humbly honors Mr. Hudnall as the recipient of the biennial 2022 Lifetime Achievement Award in the Visual Arts with this survey exhibition of some of his most significant and iconic images of Houston and of the world. A catalog published by ALH and designed by HvADesign will be available in mid-October in conjunction with this exhibition. The catalog includes some of his most celebrated images along with an introductory essay by Anne Wilkes Tucker.