Latest news with #BlackBoston
CBS News
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- CBS News
Boston artist John Wilson's work now the subject of Museum of Fine Arts exhibit celebrating humanity
A late Boston artist that got his start in the Roxbury neighborhood now has his work gracing the walls of the Museum of Fine Arts as part of a new exhibition. Welcome to Roxbury: the geographic center of the city, the heart of Black Boston, and the birthplace of artist John Wilson. "His life came out of that community very deeply, and it produced this—at least for me—this magnificent representation of human beings," said Roy Wilson, John's son. Importance of family John Wilson was born in 1922, to immigrants from British Guyana. Although his career took him to many places, Including Europe and Mexico, family was always important to him. He went on to marry his wife Julie and they had three kids: Erica, Rebecca and Roy. Roy Wilson invited WBZ-TV into his childhood home in Brookline. "I just have this vision of him doing anything to protect us. And I always knew that about him - that he'd be there in the end for you - whatever it took," said Wilson. John Wilson passed away in 2015 at the age of 92, but the memories that Wilson made with his father are still very much alive. "Well - one thing is - he was upstairs working a lot. When I went to the show, it was kind of impressive… seeing all the stuff that he had been working on in his studio for so many years—to see it all in one place!" said Wilson. New MFA exhibit That place? The walls of The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. One hundred and ten of his works grace the walls; paintings, prints, drawings, sculptures and illustrated books—all on display in the exhibition "Witnessing Humanity: The Art of John Wilson." "The self-portrait was an incredibly important part of John Wilson's work and throughout his six-decade career, so much of his work is focused around portraits of himself, his family, and his friends," said co-curator Edward Saywell. "And a lot of that has to do with his reclaiming, the dignity and the gravitas of the portrait for Black Americans." Saywell, one of the four co-curators of the John Wilson exhibit, told WBZ-TV that as an art student, Wilson never got to see himself in art history books or exhibitions. "And when he did see representations of Black Americans, all too often he described them as caricature-like or dehumanized. And one of the threads that you see throughout the entire exhibition is incredible humanity and empathy that he imbues in all his portraits—whether it's a portrait of himself or a portrait of a family member or a friend," Saywell explained. John Wilson spent more than six decades creating artwork that challenged viewers to not just see. "The works speak to, not only key political and civil rights moments over those six decades, but they speak to what life was like in Roxbury growing up in the 1940s," Saywell said. Works displayed in Roxbury Long before Wilson's works were in the MFA, they were on display in the neighborhood that helped shape him. One of those works sits on the campus of Roxbury Community College, called: "Father and Child Reading." A 7-foot tall bronze sculpture that honors the fond memories John Wilson had of his father reading to him. "Father and Child Reading," a sculpture by John Wilson. CBS Boston "I know that he was very dedicated to the idea of being a father, in acculture, that in some ways, made it difficult to be an upstanding man," said Wilson. The other work, a very well-known piece called "The Eternal Presence", more affectionately known as "The Big Head." The monument, described by the artist himself as, "an image of universal dignity." "For him, putting it in Roxbury was as important as the piece itself. And attaching it to the ground, no pedestal, in his home community—was as important as anything else about the piece. And the fact that people come once a year to polish it and to refinish it, was completely moving to the man. It was the highest compliment he could imagine being paid," said Saywell. That piece sits on the campus of the museum of The National Center of Afro-American Arts. "My sincerest hope is that any visitor is going to see an extraordinary Boston artist who should be on the national stage and are going to come away, hopefully seeing work that speaks to them in one way or another," Saywell shared. "That we are as magical, as strong, as thoughtful, as human, as any other people on the planet," Wilson said when asked about what he wants visitors to feel leaving his father's exhibit. John Wilson's impact is also still felt by students and staff alike at Boston University, where his inspiration and instruction as a professor continues to reverberate. The exhibition at The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston will be on display through June 22 – and then it will travel to The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York in September.
Boston Globe
05-05-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Josh Kraft is prioritizing winning over Black voters in Boston's mayoral race. Is it working?
Related : Advertisement 'This couldn't be a more appropriate place for our campaign to call home,' Kraft said in March at the opening of his campaign HQ. 'This campaign is about making sure that every voice in Boston is heard and valued.' A first-time candidate up against a savvy incumbent, Kraft believes his narrow path to victory runs directly through Roxbury and Boston's other communities of color, swaths of the city where, Kraft contends, voters feel ignored and let down by Wu. Wu's campaign firmly rejects that claim and the idea that she doesn't engage with communities of color. The campaign points to the Advertisement Kraft's strategy, nonetheless, reflects the campaign's view that the political newcomer can make inroads among Boston's voters of color. Kraft in recent weeks has appeared on at least four radio shows with Black hosts that focus on the Black community, and has frequently sat in pews for Sunday services and joined iftars in neighborhoods such as Dorchester and Mattapan. His team has recruited people specifically to lead outreach among Boston's Haitian and Cape Verdean residents. Last month, the Kraft campaign hosted an event in Mattapan featuring a couple dozen of Boston's Haitian residents formally endorsing his candidacy. Since he launched his challenge to Wu in February, Kraft has argued Wu 'doesn't listen' to residents, and has neglected Black neighborhoods and other communities around the city. And as Kraft's campaign sees it, the connections he developed through his nonprofit work, largely in communities of color, give him an opportunity to capitalize on what they view as Wu's vulnerability in Boston's diverse neighborhoods. More than two dozen interviews with Black Boston voters, including some civic leaders and political strategists, indicate Kraft will find at least some willingness to hear his message in these communities, but he has a lot more work to do before November. Like any voting bloc, Boston's Black community is incredibly diverse and not at all a monolith. Some prominent Black leaders, a portion of whom supported Wu in 2021, confirmed they are disillusioned with the mayor's leadership. Other Black voters told the Globe they still strongly support the mayor, particularly in light of the national political climate. Several others said they could possibly be open to voting for a challenger to Wu, but don't know enough about Kraft's policy positions to decide yet. A couple hadn't even heard of him. Advertisement The interviews indicate the dissatisfaction and frustration that Kraft seeks to capitalize on is real. Several of Wu's policy initiatives have angered some very vocal and influential leaders in Black neighborhoods, including her plan to Related : 'I feel like she's kind of failed Black people,' said Priscilla Flint, executive director of the Marcus Anthony Hall Educational Institute, which serves city youth. '[Wu] doesn't listen, and then she makes decisions,' without first soliciting community input. Flint voted for Wu in 2021, but said she's been disappointed in Wu's leadership and, at this point, doesn't plan to back her again. Flint's organization has also received support from Kraft's philanthropic work in the past. Other prominent civic leaders said the mayor's decision to block the creation of an elected School Committee was a turning point. During her first mayoral campaign, Wu said she supported a hybrid, partially elected School Committee, but as mayor she Advertisement Many voters who spoke with the Globe also said Wu has been too hasty installing '[In] conversations that I'm having with many, many people in the Black community, a lot of it comes down to, '[Wu] doesn't show up for us unless she needs something, or she only shows up when it can benefit her,'' said Jacquetta Van Zandt, a senior adviser to the Kraft campaign and host of the show 'Politics and Prosecco.' 'She has made decisions and choices that have conveniently left out Black voices.' Wu's campaign did not directly comment on the Kraft team's accusations, but in a statement emphasized her nearly 15 years in city government, the It hasn't been enough for some. Louis Elisa, president of the Garrison Trotter Neighborhood Association, said he's particularly disappointed in the stalled progress on plans to overhaul the city's only vocational high school, and what he sees as minimal improvements to the Advertisement He said he did not vote for Wu in 2021, but was pleased that she, both as a city councilor and as a mayoral candidate, showed interest in addressing some issues he deeply cares about, like Madison Park. But 'there are so many things she said she was going to do that didn't happen,' Elisa said. 'I started off very much in support of her administration doing good things, and she basically squandered that trust and that support by doing things that are totally unrelated to the needs of the community in which I live.' Other Black voters defended the mayor's record. Denise Williams, a 53-year-old former certified nursing assistant who lives in Roxbury, said she proudly supports Wu and appreciates how frequently she attends community events. As a mother, she said 'I just pray that she wins,' Williams said. 'I don't like for somebody to say, 'Well, I have Black friends' … No, you have to really be in it to understand what we go through on a daily basis.' Related : Jasen Lambright, a cybersecurity expert and Dorchester resident, said he voted for Wu in 2021 and will likely do so again. As a father of three kids in BPS, he said he still sees room for improvement. But he praised her work on public safety in the city, including progress she made tackling homelessness and the opioid crisis along what some call Advertisement 'I used to drive by there all the time to drop my kids off [at a youth program] … and I can say it looks markedly different,' Lambright said. He was also impressed by 'That was phenomenal, I agreed with everything she said,' Lambright said. 'What I like about Mayor Wu is I feel like she gets the overall picture. … I haven't heard why [Kraft] would do a better job.' Related : Antoinette Johnson, a 47-year-old Dorchester resident and morning show host on the Black-owned radio station Spark FM, also said Kraft hasn't articulated how his leadership would be different than Wu's. 'Instead of him saying, 'This is what I'm doing, this is what I'm doing,' it seems like he's kind of harping on what she's not doing,' Johnson said. She does, however, believe Kraft's efforts to reach Black voters are working. 'He's made himself available in a lot of spaces that we probably wouldn't think that Josh Kraft would be in.' Kraft recently joined Johnson and her co-hosts on their Spark FM show, and left a good impression, she said. While Johnson said she's supported Wu for years and approves of the job she's done in her first term, she sees Kraft as a strong contender in this year's race. 'In speaking to people in my community, it's probably split down the middle. There's a lot of people who are very, very excited about Mayor Wu running again. ... There are some other people who [think], 'Maybe there could be some change if we give Josh Kraft a chance.'' 'It's gonna be a tough race,' Johnson continued, 'but I think it's gonna be a good race, and I think that both of them have the opportunity to prove themselves.' Niki Griswold can be reached at
