"History Remixed" brings Civil Rights legacy to the High

[Above: Detail of Builder Levy's I Am a Man/Union Justice Now, Memphis, Tennessee, 1968]

In the 40th year after Martin Luther King Jr.'s death, Atlanta's High Museum of Art is paying an impressive tribute to our hometown Civil Rights legacy with "History Remixed," running now through October 5.

The straightforward title of the first of the exhibit's two parts, "Road to Freedom: Photographs of the Civil Rights Movement, 1956-1968," belies its full weight. These photographs, taken mostly by journalists throughout the nation during those heated years, brought the era to life like I'd never before experienced. The walls of one one was lined with photos of past and present Freedom Riders, accompanied by descriptions of their lives then and now. In terms of photography, not to mention the emotions brought forth, this may have been my favorite part of the display.

And the reaction of other museum attendees only added to the impact. I wandered among several school groups of black children in matching t-shirts being led by chaperones through the museum. Looking at one photo of a burning cross, one young boy asked his adult companion, "Why did they burn the cross? Why did they do that?" I had to walk away to fight back tears. Later, when I reconvened with the friend I came with, I was glad to hear I wasn't the only one getting emotional in the middle of a public venue.

The second part of the exhibit is response art by contemporary artists, all created after 1968. I was skeptical going into this portion of the exhibit, assuming it just couldn't live up to first half: Instead, it proved a thought-provoking complement. One piece that caught my attention was an arrangement of speakers stacked floor-to-ceiling in the shape of a traditional pipe organ, emitting audio recordings associated with the Civil Rights movement. But I spent the most time viewing a series of print advertisements from the past 40 years that took up four walls of the display. The text from the ads had been removed, prodding the viewer to reflect on what the remaining images convey about our culture. Indeed, the impact of pure images is palpable in “History Remixed.”