Exhibit | Julie Thurber : You’ve Got to be Carefully Taught

171 Cedar Arts Center presents Julie Thurber : You’ve Got to be Carefully Taught, the legacy of minstrelsy in America on view in the Houghton Gallery at 155 Cedar Street, January 17 – February 28, 2024.

Opening Reception January 17 from 5 to 7 PM, remarks at 6 PM.

Julie Thurber presents “You’ve Got to Be Carefully Taught,” a personal and provocative exploration of race, memory, and cultural conditioning through textiles, vintage clothing, and thread.

At the advent of the Black Lives Matter movement, Thurber began re-examining her past experiences and discovering the pervasive presence of racism throughout her upbringing. Born in 1960 to middle-class white parents in suburban Cincinnati, Ohio, her work unravels how cultural narratives shape understanding, often in insidious ways.

The exhibition is an invitation to reflect on how cultural narratives are inherited, absorbed, and often perpetuated – intentionally or not. Visitors will leave with a heightened awareness of the stories embedded in everyday art, media, and tradition.

171’s Houghton Gallery at 155 Cedar Street, Corning, NY.