Letitia Huckaby, Marcellis Perkins, and Johnica Rivers

The Exhibition Lecture Series is a dynamic new program featuring curators and artists from the Modern’s special exhibitions and permanent collection. This series provides a rare opportunity to explore the creative processes, curatorial strategies, and artistic visions that shape modern and contemporary art. The Exhibition Lecture Series is a free program open to the public.

Seating begins at 5:30 pm. Free admission tickets (limit two per person) are available at the Modern’s information desk beginning at 4 pm on the day of the lecture. A limited number of tickets (limit two per person) will be available for purchase online ($5) from 10 am until 4 pm the day before the lecture.

Join us for a compelling conversation featuring artist Letitia Huckaby and Texas Christian University (TCU) doctoral candidate Marcellis Perkins, moderated by writer and curator Johnica Rivers. The discussion will explore Huckaby’s photographs in the special exhibition Diaries of Home. Huckaby was selected to create a pair of portraits depicting Charley and Kate Thorp, a formerly enslaved couple who played a crucial role at AddRan Male and Female College (later renamed TCU) from its founding in 1873. The Portrait Project tells TCU’s story through diverse portraiture around the campus that commemorates historically marginalized and underrepresented members of the university’s community. Now, over 150 years later, the contributions of this formerly enslaved couple to TCU's history have been acknowledged, and their legacies will endure. 

Perkins notes, “When you look at the portraits that line [the walls of] an institution like a university, you see an absence of diversity. But those may not match all the identities of those who have influenced it. The Portrait Project diversifies the narrative of those individuals who contributed to TCU, and Charley and Kate Thorp are two who contributed greatly.” 

Since no known photographs of the Thorps exist, Huckaby photographed their living descendants to craft silhouette portraits that honor the couple’s enduring legacy. The resulting series, A Living Requiem, is a collection of these photographs, on display in Diaries of Home. Rivers will lead a conversation on the Thorp family’s impact and Huckaby’s unique approach to capturing their history through art.

The Thorp portraits were unveiled in TCU’s Harrison Lobby on October 24 in conjunction with the Modern’s fall opening of Diaries of Home.

Letitia Huckaby:
Letitia Huckaby holds a BA in Journalism from the University of Oklahoma at Norman, a BFA in Photography from the University of Boston at Lesley, and an MFA in Photography from the University of North Texas. Her work is rooted in faith, family, and legacy, and acts as a time capsule for the African American experience. Huckaby investigates the relationship between the past and the present, and whether things have changed or remain the same; she builds history into her work through her process and physical materials. Each of Huckaby’s works starts with an image and pushes the boundaries of photography as it comes to fruition. She uses the medium in untraditional ways with the goal of contributing to a new visual language. 

In 2023, Huckaby’s work was included in the group exhibition Emancipation: The Unfinished Project of Liberation at the Amon Carter Museum of American Art in Fort Worth. In 2022, the artist’s work was featured in two solo exhibitions, Letitia Huckaby: Koinonia, at the McNay Art Museum in San Antonio and Bitter Waters Sweet at Art League Houston, which gave her its Texas Artist of the Year Award. She was a featured artist in MAP2020: The Further We Roll, The More We Gain at the Amon Carter Museum of American Art and State of the Art 2020 at The Momentary and Crystal Bridges Museum. Huckaby has exhibited at the Camden Palace Hotel in Cork City, Ireland; McKenna Museum, New Orleans; Phillips New York; Renaissance Fine Art in Harlem, curated by Deborah Willis, PhD; The Studio School of Harlem; Texas Biennial at Blue Star Contemporary Art Museum, San Antonio; and Tyler Museum of Art. 

The artist’s work is included in several prestigious collections, including the Art Museum of Southeast Texas, Beaumont; Brandywine Workshop, Philadelphia; Library of Congress, Washington DC; McNay Art Museum, San Antonio; and Samella Lewis Contemporary Art Collection at Scripps College, Claremont, California. 

Marcellis Perkins:
A current doctoral candidate at TCU, Marcellis earned his undergraduate degree from the College of the Holy Cross and completed his Master’s in Higher Education at TCU. His professional journey includes serving as Program Coordinator for Professional Development within TCU’s Student Athlete Development Department and as a Graduate Research Assistant for the university’s Race & Reconciliation Initiative. Currently, he is a Graduate Assistant in the Office of the Chancellor and President, and chairs TCU’s Portrait Project. He is co-author of A History to Remember: TCU Purple, White, and Black (TCU Press, 2023).