The Stories We Carry

A visual reflection on how Black culture preserves history and creates legacy

Presented by Black Creatives RVA in partnership with the Library of Virginia

Black Creatives RVA invites Black visual creatives to participate in Stories We Carry, a group exhibition exploring storytelling through visual communication. This exhibition centers the ways Black culture carries history not only through words, but through images, design, symbols, and creative expression.


Exhibition Details

As Virginia marks 250 years of statehood, this exhibition offers space to reflect on the stories that are often left out, overlooked, or flattened. For Black communities, storytelling lives in how we create, how we communicate, and how we move through the world. Posters, photographs, typography, illustrations, and visual artifacts all serve as records of memory, truth, and resilience.

Stories We Carry will be featured as part of the Library of Virginia’s Culturescape Saturday series, opening February 21 and remaining on view throughout the month of February for Black History Month and through April 10.

Featured Creators

From nearly 150 submissions, 29 Black visual creators were selected to showcase their work in The Stories We Carry.

These artists represent a range of disciplines including photography, graphic design, illustration, painting, collage, and mixed media. Each selected work contributes to a broader conversation about how Black culture preserves memory, documents truth, and shapes legacy through visual storytelling.

We are honored to feature these creators and their powerful interpretations of what it means to carry our stories forward.

Amiri Richardson-Keys

Andrew Jones

Asiko-Oluwa Aderin

Charles H.F. Davis III

Dallas Roquemore

Darlene Anita Scott

David Marion

Gabriela Aroche

Gabrielle Cash

Indigo Sijema

Jamie Robertson

Jason Ford

Jovan Scott

Kyle M Epps

Maurice Ivory Wilson

Melchisedek Shabazz

Paige Kelsor

Priyah Bhagat

RAMSEY

Rian L. Moses

Romaine Adkins

Ron Stokes

Sabiyha Prince

Sherri R. Thompson

Sheryl Saly Touré

Siera Ashleigh

William “Phresh Ingredient”
Clarke IV

Yvonne Ferguson

Yvonne Simms