Unshackled Ink Installation Images

Unshackled Ink is a tribute to Blackburn and the diverse community of black artists he empowered. In the title, “Ink” refers to printmaking ink and the melanin in black peoples’ skin, while “unshackled” refers to breaking the chains that historically and figuratively bound black people in search of freedom. For the many artists Blackburn inspired, printmaking can be seen as a liberatory medium and artmaking a revolutionary act.

Organized in three sections -- Roots, Struggle, and Vignette -- this exhibition celebrates unapologetic blackness and printmaking as means to liberate, uplift, and empower.