Charles Jackson Adkins Jr.: Suggested Summer Reading
On View Now in Gallery 3
Through September 30, 2022
Charles Jackson Adkins Jr. “Suggested Summer Reading” is a reflection on the ongoing censorship of literature found primarily in school systems throughout the nation. Adkins’ work is an experiential reading nook, a safe space, that invites the participant to sit in a chair originally belonging to the artists’ grandmother.
Adkins work is intended to create conversation, an opportunity to exchange thoughts and ideas. Many viewers are surprised to find some of these books that have been banned as they have been profound sources of inspiration within their own educational development.
Charles Jackson Adkins Jr. earned an MFA in Studio Art from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill and now works at the Art and Culture Center/Hollywood in Visitor Services. “Suggested Summer Reading” was included in “BookBound: The Art of Books and Printmaking” curated by Meaghan Kent.
THE CENTER'S BANNED BOOK CLUB DISCUSSION
September 17, 2022, 4 - 6 pm
The Handsmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
Conversation led by Professor Elisa Albo
Free for Members, $7 for Non-Members
Refreshments will be served.
Inspired by the installation “Suggested Summer Reading” by Charles Jackson Adkins Jr. in Gallery 3, The Banned Book Club focuses on the appreciation of and advocation for books that have been officially banned in various schools, school districts, and library systems around the United States. These bans were ultimately put in place because the books contained material that challenged the status quo and/or exposed readers to the struggles of disenfranchised groups in uncomfortable ways.
This fall, we will be discussing The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood. The conversation will be led by professor of literature at Broward College, Elisa Albo. The Handmaid’s Tale is inspired by evangelical Puritanism of the 17th century. In the wake of a fertility crisis, designated “handmaids” are required to engage in reproductive practices with high-ranking men of the new regime in order to repopulate what was formerly the United States.
Elisa Albo is an award-winning professor of composition, literature, and English as a foreign language at Broward College. A contributing editor of Grabbed: Poets and Writers on Sexual Harassment, Empowerment, and Healing, her poetry chapbooks are Passage to America and Each Day More. Her poems have appeared in journals and anthologies, including Crab Orchard Review, Notre Dame Review, SWWIM Every Day, and Two-Countries: U.S. Daughters and Sons of Immigrant Parents. An associate editor for the South Florida Poetry Journal, she co-produces the Seahawk Writing Conference at BC and lives with her family in Fort Lauderdale.
The Art and Culture Center/Hollywood is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization supported in part by its members, admissions, private entities, the City of Hollywood; the Broward County Cultural Division, the Cultural Council, and the Broward County Board of County Commissioners; the Florida Department of State Division of Arts and Culture; the David and Francie Horvitz Family Foundation; and the Josephine S. Leiser Foundation. We welcome donations from all members of the community who wish to support our work.