Hamilton College’s Wellin Museum of Art presents the exhibition, Jamea Richmond-Edwards: Another World and Yet the Same, from September 13, 2025, through June 14, 2026, showcasing the artist’s interdisciplinary work in video, collage, and painting. An opening reception will be held on Saturday, Sept. 13 from 4 to 6 p.m. and is free and open to the public.
This exhibition includes existing works alongside a newly created video and suite of paintings. Points of inspiration in this body of work include the biblical stories of Exodus, the science-fiction mythology of jazz musician Sun Ra, the exploration of terrestrial continents both real and imagined, and the impending effects of climate change upon our planet’s most vulnerable geographies.
For the past decade, Richmond-Edwards’s work often highlights the people and culture of her hometown, Detroit, while reflecting on her own life and exploring broader social and environmental issues. Most recently, her wide-ranging research interests—which span religion, history, mythology, and ancestry have informed monumental paintings that offer complex narratives addressing humanity’s shared histories while also exploring social constructions of race, class, and nationalism.
Exhibition curator Alexander Jarman said, “This exhibition will mark an important evolution in the artist’s practice. While Richmond-Edwards has created large-scale paintings previously, this is the first time a new body of work will coalesce around a central narrative of the artist’s own invention. Many of these works are directly informed by the research she has specifically undertaken drawing upon Hamilton College archives and collections, but some of the issues and themes she is addressing—climate change, democracy, mythology, and race—are relevant to communities throughout the U.S. and around the world.”
Richmond-Edwards adds, “I am excited to present this new body of work and the story it tells, which I am thinking of as an epic. It’s about a young guy named Iceberg who is leading his family to Antarctica. It’s a whole narrative. At a time when it feels like our climate is disintegrating and our politics are creating deeper divisions, I can build a new vision for the world in this exhibition. I believe that humanity’s future rests not only in the hands of politicians or scientists, but also in the ability of artists to imagine alternate futures. We are all an integral part of finding solutions for the uncertain times ahead and I hope these new works energize and inspire viewers.”
About the Artist
Jamea Richmond-Edwards (b. 1982, Detroit) earned a BA from Jackson State University (2004) and an MFA from Howard University (2012). Her work has been included in exhibitions at the Brooklyn Museum, California African American Museum (Los Angeles), Charles Wright Museum (Detroit), Delaware Art Museum (Wilmington), Frist Art Museum (Nashville), Museum of Contemporary Art North Miami, Museum of Fine Arts Houston, and the Phillips Collection (Washington, DC). She is a 2018 recipient of the Joan Mitchell Foundation Painters & Sculptors Grant, and her works are included in the collections of the Rubell Family Collection, the Studio Museum in Harlem, and the U.S. Department of State’s Art in Embassies program.
Exhibition Programming
Friday, September 12, 2025 at 1 p.m. via Facebook Live, the artist will offer a virtual walkthrough of the exhibition with Alexander Jarman, Assistant Curator of Exhibitions and Academic Outreach.
Saturday, September 13, 2025, 3 p.m.
The artist and members of the Delusions of Grandeur collective will be in conversation with Alexander Jarman, Assistant Curator of Exhibitions and Academic Outreach.
Saturday, September 13, from 4 to 6 p.m.
Join the artist for an opening reception for the exhibition.
About the Ruth and Elmer Wellin Museum of Art
A teaching museum on the campus of Hamilton College, the Wellin Museum is located at the corner of College Hill Rd. and Griffin Rd. Parking is free. For more information: https://www.hamilton.edu/wellin
