Banned in the USA is a short highlighting the nations affected by the travel bans that took effect in June 2025, and the 36 countries under threat of being added to this expanding list. This piece contextualizes the throughline that connects them all while engaging viewers on the topic of immigration and who has access to this land.
Medium: Video
Time: 1:40
Supremacy Project addresses the systematic oppression and violence BIPOC communities are fighting to end through art.
Prior projects at St. Ann’s Warehouse include SUPREMACY: WHO PROTECTS ME FROM YOU?, WE THE PEOPLE, and LOST ONES. CULTURE FOUND. Learn more on Instagram at @supremacyproject.
SUPREMACY: WHO PROTECTS ME FROM YOU?
Artists: Julian Alexander | Mel D. Cole
Curator: Khadijat Oseni
On the one-year anniversary of last year’s Capitol insurrection, and at the beginning of an election year, Supremacy: Who Protects Me from You? considers January 6, 2021, a disturbing portrait of one such broken system, and just another day in a long history of white supremacist violence.
The new installation, in the St. Ann’s Warehouse archways on Old Dock Street, aims its lens on the legislative branch of the US government. The events at the Capitol are explosively captured by Mel D. Cole and Reuters photographer Leah Millis, and contextualized by artist Julian Alexander. A pointed redaction by Alexander—to a quote from Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger—underscores the notion that despite the insurrection’s horror, it is but one of the countless “darkest days in American history” for non-white people.
WE THE PEOPLE
Artists: Julian Alexander | Cyrus Aaron | Mahogany L. Browne | justin el | Adeolu Osibodu
Curator: Khadijat Oseni
“Take no one’s word for anything, including mine – but trust your experience. Know whence you came. If you know whence you came, there is really no limit to where you can go.” – James Baldwin, The Fire Next Time
With this series, the “We the People” phrase is juxtaposed with imagery by Nigerian photographer Adeolu Osibodu, of strong, vulnerable, complete people that conjure ancestral memories suspended in space and time. The light boxes are paired with accompanying haikus rooted in the African tradition of call-and-response by poets Cyrus Aaron, Mahogany L. Browne, and justin el.
Artist Julian Alexander anchors this sea of diasporic voices with a text-only piece of art: “ALWAYS BEEN 5/5 a ____.” serving as a meditative pause and update on the iconic “I AM A MAN” signage that has since become synonymous with the fight for social justice.
LOST ONES. CULTURE FOUND.
Artists: Michael Boyd
Liner Notes: Mahogany L. Browne | Cyrus Aaron | justin el
Curator: Khadijat Oseni
The Lost Ones. Culture Found. cover series reexamines the legacy of widely-known victims of police brutality and hate crimes.
ST. ANN’S WAREHOUSE: URBAN CANVAS
The challenges of the pandemic inspired St. Ann’s staff to literally think outside the box. If we couldn’t program our space and invite audiences inside, how could we as an arts organization respond to the urgency of Black Lives Matter and an historic moment of mourning and protest? It was simple — if you can’t come to us, we’ll come to you. Thus the idea was born — to deploy our beloved building as an amplified, interactive urban canvas of huge images and raw passions to meet the moment.
Learn more about previous Urban Canvas exhibits at St. Ann’s Warehouse.
