CROWNED BY TRADITION

A solo exhibition by Mama Tradition

Curated by Dar Es Salaam Riser

BGX Gallery | 192 Front Street NY, NY 10038 

Opening | Friday November 7th | 6pm - 10pm

Gallery Hours | Thursday - Saturday | 12pm - 7pm

Crowned by Tradition presents the work of Mama Tradition—photographer, crown-maker, and keeper of stories. Her art flows from the soil of Magnolia, Mississippi to the global stage, documenting the light she finds in everyday saints and celestial bodies alike. This exhibition is a living archive, a testament to her knowledge that everybody is a star, each radiating their own brilliant and essential light.

13 PIECES

This exhibition features 13 photographic works. This number honors the sacred 13 months of sunshine repreesnted in lunar cycles, feminine power, and rhythmic completion found in ancient African cosmologies. These 13 pieces form a single, harmonious orbit, reflecting the artist’s vision of a community bound by ancestral memory and shared light. Also tying in with the 13 months of sunshine

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Mama Tradition (Edna Delores Robertson-Ravenel) is a documentarian guided by her DNA GPS. She declares, “I gotta tell it like it is... I can’t do it any other way.” Her camera is her act of testifying, while her hand-crocheted crowns are her prayers made tangible. Each crown is a sanctuary, a physical declaration that we are all Crowned by Tradition—our royalty inherited from the resilience and love of those who came before us. She crowns to affirm that our roots are power, our structures are sacred ground, and our collective light is the foundation of all community.

*Segments of the experience may be live-streamed to and/or recorded.*