LeXander Bryant: Forget Me Nots

Nashville-based artist LeXander Bryant’s debut solo museum exhibition Forget Me Nots addresses themes of perseverance amid adversity, family structures and bonds, economic inequality, community activism, and more. The centerpiece of this multimedia exhibition is a suspended cracked concrete slab out of which blue forget-me-not flowers bloom. The installation references the late rapper Tupac Shakur’s poem “The Rose That Grew from Concrete” and honors survival despite seemingly impossible circumstances.

Other components include a selection of Bryant’s studio photographs; a “memory wall” containing dozens of overlapping, community-based photos that collectively tell a story; wheatpaste murals similar to his work featured in the 2019 Frist exhibition Murals of North Nashville Now; and a new video created for this exhibition. Together, the works offer an opportunity to consider one’s present position by thinking critically about the past and envisioning one’s legacy.

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Funded in part by the Gordon CAP Gallery Fund

With additional support from

Clay Blevins
John and Melinda Buntin
Susan H. Edwards
Jennifer and Billy Frist
Bob and Julie Gordon
Frank and Gwen Gordon
Gail Gordon Jacobs
Louise and Neil Kohler
Neil Krugman and Lee Pratt
Kent Rollins and Belinda Butler

This list is current as of November 16, 2021.

Presented in part by

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Overhead shot of a man in red shorts holding a spoon full of bullet shells from a glass bowl of milk. There’s a cereal box in the left corner and a yellow, gallon of milk in the lower, right corner.

LeXander Bryant. Don’t Blame the Youth, 2020. Archival pigment print, 27 x 40 1/2 in. Courtesy of the artist. © LeXander Bryant

Image of a man wearing a white, button-down dress shirt holding his hand out, kneeling in a shallow body of water. There’s a ring on each finger and a bracelet on his wrist.

LeXander Bryant. Wash Away My Fears 001, 2020. Archival pigment print, 27 x 40 1/2 in. Courtesy of the artist. © LeXander Bryant

LeXander Bryant. Night Ride, 2016. Archival pigment print, 10 1/2 x 15 3/4 in. Courtesy of the artist. © LeXander Bryant

A black and white close-up of a black man in glasses smiling with a grill covering his top row of teeth.

LeXander Bryant. A Film Called Manifest, 2017. Archival pigment print, 40 1/2 x 27 in. Courtesy of the artist. © LeXander Bryant

Two arms are entwined at the forearm while the hands are gently bent in opposite directions creating a graceful pose.

LeXander Bryant. Can’t Afford Division, 2019. Archival pigment print, 40 1/2 x 27 in. Courtesy of the artist. © LeXander Bryant

A black man riding a bus looks at his phone as he gently cradles a sleeping young girl in his lap. Her arm is tenderly around his neck.

LeXander Bryant. Protect (Her), 2019. Archival pigment print, 15 3/4 x 10 1/2 in. Courtesy of the artist. © LeXander Bryant

Hazy, blue image of several pairs of Sneakers hanging from powerline.

Resources

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Resources

Closing the Show: A Conversation with LeXander Bryant and Comedian Joshua Black

Gallery Guide

LeXander Bryant: Forget Me Nots

Guía de la Galería

LeXander Bryant: Forget Me Nots

Arts Break: LeXander Bryant

Nashville Public Television

Interview with LeXander Bryant and Katie Delmez on Sharon Kay’s program “What’s the 411?”

WFSK Jazzy 88

LeXander Bryant Sharing Love At Frist Museum In Nashville

Forbes

“I Want You to Remember” Q&A with LeXander Bryant

Nashville Scene

“Memories of a Native Son” essay by Kashif Andrew Graham

Nashville Scene

LeXander Bryant Gallery Talk at the Frist Art Museum