The exhibition Karen Hampton: Origins opens at the Crisp-Ellert Art Museum at Flagler College on Friday, March 4. Hampton’s textile-based work explores stories of the African American diaspora, as well as her ancestral ties to Northeast Florida. The exhibition will be on view through April 23.

Hampton’s work utilizes hand-woven textiles, digital prints and embroidery on cloth, and hand-dyed fabrics to consider her own lineage, and how these individuals are connected to Black American history within Spanish Florida, the United States, and the African Diaspora. Often merging ancestral methods of textile production with more experimental contemporary processes, the work represents a window into the world her ancestors had to traverse, from the late 1700s to the Civil War, and the return to their homeland in Florida. Through a combination of stories and historical documentation from the lives of George J.F. Clarke, Flora Leslie, and their descendants, the artist has crafted a generational story of love, dedication, and survival.

Recent solo exhibitions include Michigan State University Union Art Gallery (2018), Jack Bell Gallery, London (2017), Honolulu Museum of Art (2016-17), and Ruth and Elmer Wellin Museum of Art (2015). Her work has also been included in several group exhibitions including gallery FRITZ, Santa Fe (2018), Roberts Project, Culver City, CA (2018) Pomona College (2015), Muskegon Museum of Art (2012-15), GATEWAY Art Center (2011), and Washington, D.C. (2008-11). Hampton is an Assistant Professor of Fine Art at Massachusetts College of Art and Design in Boston. ​

This program is supported by a grant from the Dr. JoAnn Crisp-Ellert Fund at The Community Foundation for Northeast Florida.