Diversity: Celebrating & Uplifting People of Color
Gallery on Main (in the Community Trust Bank Building)
128 West Main Street
Richmond, KY 40475
September 2-November 3, 2025
People of color are often made to feel less than because of what makes them unique and made to feel uncomfortable in their own skin, or have the courage, to let their light shine (or outshine those around them). This is not always the case but more often than not this happens. This exhibit is meant to reaffirm to People of Color that they have an intrinsic value that many forget about even though the melanin they possess holds the truth about their DNA and the giants on which they stand.
Bloom into Spring
Berea, KY
Kentucky, Spring, flowering Quince, BereaThis photograph is a close‐up of a Flowering Quince.
Butterfly
Lexington, KY
Painted Lady Butterfly, butterfly, transformationThis photograph was taken on one of my many trips to work in the Southland Community Garden (in Lexington, KY).
When I self-published my book, Expanding Horizons Through Creative Expressions in 2013 I decided to use the photograph of this Painted Lady Butterfly on the front cover.
Cody’s Wish An Equine Tribute
Lexington, KY
cody's wish, equine, horse, retired horseOn 3 February, I along with other photographers went to Jonabell Farm in Lexington, KY to photograph the horse named Cody’s Wish. For this piece, I wanted to try and show the personality of the thoroughbred horse.
Door to the Past
Lexington, KY
Lexington projects, doors, Brother BruceThe Bluegrass‐Aspendale Housing Project was built in stages between 1936 and 1951. The Lexington Housing Authority built Aspendale for Black residents and Bluegrass for white. When it opened in 1938 in the predominately Black East End neighborhood of Lexington, Kentucky, it was one of the first public housing projects in the country. The housing project was originally built on the site of Lexington’s first racecourse (1826‐1933). It spanned 82 acres and was bordered by Withrow Way, Race, Magnolia, Shropshire, and Sixth streets.
On 30 January 1974 the 300 yard eight foot high barbed wire fence that separated the Black and white residents was taken down. The Bluegrass‐Aspendale Housing Project in its peak had 963 units. In 1990 the Lexington Housing Authority demolished 295 units. In November 2002 an additional 279 units were razed. Through the HOPE VI program the final demolition of the projects was started in October 2006 with the publicly stated goal of making the neighborhood safer while displacing the People of Color who lived there as they could NOT afford to move into the neighborhood where they had been living.
In 2002, Tyree Guyton–a Black Detroit artist who started the Heidelberg Project in 1986 with the help of family–worked with students from a Detroit elementary school on the Doors of Opportunity. In 2005 Bruce Mundy, a Black historian, educator, food grower, and more visited the Heidelberg Project in Detroit with longtime friend and collaborator Jim Embry (my father who was living in Detroit at the time). The doors came from the BluegrassAspendale Housing Project and were painted by attendees of the Bluegrass Aspendale Teen Center.
The photograph was taken in 2005 with a 35mm film camera. The plan was to print and sell photographs of this door and another door, photographs of the African Cemetery No. 2 on Seventh Street, and other photographs. However, for different reasons, nothing materialized. I felt compelled to include this photograph in this exhibit to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of the photograph and to bring awareness of this project. The frame that houses this piece has Kenté cloth wrapped around it by my mother, DeBora Mapp.
Frosted Dandelion
Lexington, KY
late April frost, dandelion, wonder, NatureThe title says it all.
Homestead
Greenville, KY
Homestead, log cabin, Martin Acres, daffodilsIn the Rhodes Chapel Community of Greenville, Kentucky, sits an eighth generation black owned family farm called Martin Acres, and on this farm, sits this house. It was the home of Finis Martin, my great‐great grandfather. This home also housed other family members and is also known as the "well house."
And this photograph is used as the sample for the 60th Martin Family Reunion commemorative puzzles, and is also known as 60th Martin Family Reunion and Early Spring Revival.
Spring is Here
Greenville, KY
spring, daffodil, rise above, Martin AcresThis is a close up of a Pseudo‐Narcissus Daffodil, a very old type of daffodil, growing on the side of a small hill at Martin Acres. These Daffodils were valued by early homesteaders because they are easy to grow and spread easily. They were swapped and passed around as gifts in a marriage or whenever a couple bought a new home.
Surrounded By Love
Greenville, KY
Martin Acres, rise above, trees, cabin, protectedLourenza Dow Martin (my great‐great‐great grandfather) was born on 4 May 1833 (to unknown parents). In the 1850s he purchased his freedom & the freedom of his wife, Minnie Malvina "Vanie" Reynolds (born on 18 June 1838). Lourenza purchased 125 acres of land for $600 in 1866 and he passed on 7 April 1897. On 30 May 1898, the 125 acres was sold at a public auction. Herbert Leslie Martin, my great‐grandfather (born on 22 September 1896), acquired the land that had belonged to his grandfather.
Lourenza’s third child, Finis Martin, was born on 17 February 1859 in Muhlenberg County, Kentucky. He began purchasing land at a young age. Finis married Willie Mathis (born on 9 September 1867) in 1886 and it is assumed that when he purchased land in the Rhodes Chapel Community to have profitable agricultural land, he also built the house seen in these two photographs. Homestead was taken in 2014 with a 35mm Kodak EasyShare C182 digital camera and Surrounded by Love was taken in 2017 with a Canon EOS Rebel T4i DSLR camera.
I talked with a friend who is a carpenter (among other things) about the Eastern Redcedar siding that shows little to no signs of deterioration on the Grandpap Finis House (or the Well House), and he told me that it could have been made with old growth Trees. He mentioned that the Trees may have been 200 or 300 years old, which is different than our current view on old growth.
The Power of Love: November 2013
Greenville, KY
love, Martin Acres, power of love, rise aboveOn two acres of Martin Acres—on the outskirts of Greenville, KY—these photographs were taken in November 2013 and November 2015.
My twin brother and I started working on our forest garden in 2013 on fallow grazing land that had seen better days. We ended our work trip by speaking words of love to everything, and you can see the difference that it made (look closely at the November 2015 photograph).
The Power of Love: November 2015
Greenville, KY
love, Martin Acres, power of love, rise aboveOn two acres of Martin Acres—on the outskirts of Greenville, KY—these photographs were taken in November 2013 and November 2015.
My twin brother and I started working on our forest garden in 2013 on fallow grazing land that had seen better days. We ended our work trip by speaking words of love to everything, and you can see the difference that it made (look closely at the November 2015 photograph).
Wild & Free
Outer Banks, NC
spanish mustangs, wild horses. north carolinaOn a family vacation in 2019, we went on a tour to see the wild Spanish Mustangs that roam free in the Outerbanks region of coastal North Carolina. I took a series of photographs and this one appealed the most to me for this equine tribute show.
