Rodney McMillian's 'Neighbors' at Henry Art Gallery Confronts Land, History, and Power

Rodney McMillian's exhibition 'Neighbors' at the Henry Art Gallery (4 October 2025 – 24 May 2026) examines the American landscape as a repository of histories of slavery, segregation, and racial violence. The show features painting, sculpture, video, and performance, including 'Specimen' sculptures made of white fabric on plinths referencing taxidermy, and 'Untitled (neighbors)' video with a Klansman-like figure. McMillian discusses his South Carolina upbringing, the Confederate flag on the State House until 2000, and the 2015 Charleston church shooting. He uses abstraction to address the unspeakable, and found black bedsheets with price tags to highlight economic contexts. The video 'Plantation Bride' was shot at Middleton Place, a former plantation. 'Preacher Man II' features text by Kwame Ture. McMillian reflects on the neighbor as both a racist troll and a source of wisdom, and on performance as a bridge between past and present. He connects Jim Crow to apartheid, and notes the global resonance of these histories, citing his Peace Corps experience in Guinea-Bissau.