Roosevelt Island RIVAA Gallery invites you to celebrate Black History Month with their upcoming exhibition highlighting the contributions of unlauded Black inventors. You’re invited to the exhibition’s opening reception tomorrow night, February 8 from 6-9 PM.

Earlier today, I received a pre-opening tour of the exhibition from co-curator Amazia Thompson.

According to Mr Thompson:

I have co-curators that I’ve invited from different boroughs. Essentially, this exhibition is focusing on black inventors. It’s called The Lives That Made The Lives We Live and it’s focusing on a lot of the times whether it be inventors of culture, inventors of technology or inventors of medicine, black hands are interwoven into the fabric of what we sometimes take for granted.

For example … we have an aspect of other cultures renditions of their divinities depicted as women. We have Mother Earth, the Moon, the Sun, the Water and then the abstract usually takes place with identity. We have one of my favorites which is a rendition of Black Angel Babies and this one was unique to me because oftentimes Divinity is close to Whiteness in a lot of ways and so Light is associated with good, Darkness with bad but this is a reminder that oftentimes perception is not what we think…

RIVAA Galler y adds:

The Lives That Made The Life We Live

Opening reception: Saturday, February 8, 6-9 PM

RIVAA Gallery

On view February 7 March 2, 2025

The Lives That Made The Life We Live is an exhibition highlighting unlauded Black inventors and their silent impact on our way of living. Through this exhibition, artists explore the effects of Black inventions on the physical world and human psyche in mediums ranging from paint and textiles to photography and film. Serving as a tribute to these forgotten legacies, it calls for recognition and respect for Black creators who touch every part of our lives, often missed and taken for granted, spanning culture, technology, medicine, and everything in between and beyond.

Join us at RIVAA Gallery on Saturday, February 8th, from 6-9 PM for art, music and performances at the opening ceremony of this exhibition honoring Black History Month.

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More info about the RIVAA Galler y available at their website.