Rouse Company Foundation Gallery at Howard Community College, 10901 Little Patuxent Parkway Columbia, Maryland, through March 16.
howardcc.edu
When was the last time you wandered through an alternate universe? With “Big Bang Baby,” the latest exhibition from emerging painter LUSMERLIN, quantum physics contorts and abstracts the physics of ancient divine feminine archetypes. The goddess figures, elevated self-portraits of the artist, bloom and portal jump between timelines and dimensions on larger-than-life canvases that span the gallery walls. Inspired by Darwin’s theory of evolution and queries about the roles that women, the primordial sources of creation, play in the alpha and omega of our reality, “Big Bang Baby” is a psychedelic wonderland for sober and inquisitive minds seeking enlightening experiences. (Angela N. Carroll)
“She Speaks: Black Women Artists and the Power of Historical Memory” Banneker-Douglass-Tubman Museum, 84 Franklin St, Annapolis, MD 21401, through January 16, 2027.
bdmuseum.maryland.gov
Resistance is a continuum that no generation has seen the conclusive realization of. Historically, women have always played an undeniable role in the sustenance and progress of liberation movements. The sprawling group exhibition, now on view, features the work of Black women artists who are amplifying and reclaiming unsung histories and stolen narratives to articulate affirmed vantages about the radical power of collective imagination to forge sustainable futures. Featured artists include Elizabeth Catlett, Alanna Fields, Martha Jackson Jarvis, and Faith Ringgold, among many others. (Angela N. Carroll)
Cupid’s Chase 5k
West Shore Park, 401 Light Street, February 14, 10 a.m.
cupidschase.org
Meeting people online has always been a little iffy, at least for some of us technophobic old heads, but the whole internet has become increasingly gross and creepy through enshittification, the proliferation of bots, the boot-licking feudelist dreams of techno-overlords, and the never-ending Epstein saga (not Noam Chomsky!). So if you are single, you could just sit down with a fifth of whiskey and a pack of smokes this Valentine’s Day and say fuck it, or you could put on a white Cupid’s Chase shirt and hit the streets to raise money for people with disabilities while getting some exercise and scoping out your fellow runners.
The deal is when you register (the $45 entrance fee raises money for Community Options and helps fund housing and employment opportunities for people with disabilities) you get a white shirt if you want to flirt and a red shirt to signify that you are not single or not interested in romance. They welcome runners, walkers, strollers, mobility devices, and dogs — if they are on leashes. And, if you just like to run and don’t care about Valentine’s Day at all and aren’t looking to signal anything about your relationship status by dressing like the White Stripes, you can wear whatever color shirt you damn well please.
Besides, it’s at 10 a.m. and you’ll always have time for that whiskey later on if things don’t go so well. But at least then you’ve gotten some exercise and raised some dough for a good cause. (Baynard Woods)
Donnell Rochester’s Fourth Angelversary
Baltimore City Hall, 100 Holliday Street, February 19, 5 p.m.
When ICE agent Jonathan Ross shot Renée Good in Minneapolis last month and the administration claimed that she was trying to run him over, the horrifying scenario was all too common to many Baltimoreans, and some of us couldn’t help but think of February 19, 2022, when BPD officer Connor Murray stood directly in front of 18-year-old Donnell Rochester’s car and fired three shots. Then he dove out of the way and fired a fourth shot and killed Rochester, who was trying to get away from the flex squad of cops chasing him over a minor warrant. Like Good, Rochester was driving slowly, and like the Trump administration, cops claimed it was self-defense, even though all Murray needed to do was step out of the way, as he did before firing his final shot.
At that time, local prosecutors, rather than the attorney general’s office, decided whether or not to prosecute officers. Still, the AG’s office said there was probable cause to charge Murray — something they’ve only done twice since they took over the responsibility of investigating police-involved fatalities — and Ivan Bates’ office, following a report submitted by outgoing Marilyn Mosby, failed to do so.
Still, Rochester’s mother, Danielle Brown, has continued to fight for justice for her son. “I’m going to continue to fight for accountability for Donnell,” she told us in 2023, and she is still fighting.
She and supporters will be holding a rally in front of City Hall and are inviting other impacted families to speak and calling on the community to help bring #Justice4Donnell. (Baynard Woods)
“Wilderness Suite”
The Voxel February 20, 21, 22
Composer, musician, and professor Ruby Fulton brings Idaho to E. 25th Street with “Wilderness Suite” at The Voxel. Fulton has built a reputation for creating music that explores life in ways not often thought of musically. “Wilderness Suite” is an interdisciplinary exploration of protected wilderness. Penned by Fulton and performed by the two-pianist, two-percussionist Icarus Quartet (ensemble based partially in Baltimore), the journey is set in Idaho’s Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness. The landscape has sat untouched for the past 45 years after all human development ceased. The nearly 2.5 million acres of land in central Idaho is the largest federally protected wilderness in the U.S.
The work is so carefully composed to recreate the Frank Church River that even the notes on paper turn out to resemble rolling mountains and patterns of the outdoors. The piece comes with video art by eight artists including Baltimore’s Margaret Rorison, Rohan Pathare, and Karen Yasinsky, plus recent Philly transplant Stephanie Barber. It’s about an hour of music that includes vocal samples of audio interviews with stakeholders and video that uses old and new photographs from the area. “I want audience members to reflect on their own relationship to the world around them,” Fulton said.
Partially funded by the National Endowment for the Arts and produced by Mind on Fire, the ever so relevant theme of antidevelopment should resonate as especially affirming for any level of nature lover. Explore the possibility of what can be if man could resist the addiction to tearing down the most vital sources of life to quench the thirst of capitalism. A music lover is in good hands given Fulton’s track record of exploring everything from mental health and addiction to psychedelic research and Buddhism through sound. “Wilderness Suite” is surely a palate cleanse given the toxicity of manufactured calamity that has engulfed us all lately. Tickets and more info available on The Voxel website. The performance on February 21 will be recorded and filmed. (Eze Jackson)
CCBC Dundalk Gallery exhibit: “Turner Station”
Alvin and Mary Lloyd College Center, 7200 Sollers Point Road, Reception on February 19, 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., exhibition on display through April 17.
Almost a decade ago, I wrote about Turner Station for the now-defunct Baltimore City Paper. At the time, the sleepy little town was under a national spotlight. It was 2017 and Oprah had produced a film adaptation of the book “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.” Written by Rebecca Skloot, the book told the story of Lacks, the poor Black woman whose cancerous cells were used by doctors and scientists to make countless medical discoveries. It also documents the struggle of Lacks’ family for something like justice — Lacks’ cells were taken and used without permission or credit.
Learn more about Lacks and the community she called home at this CCBC Dundalk Gallery exhibit. Read newspaper clippings, view artifacts, documents, photographs, and more at this celebration of one of Maryland’s few remaining historically African American communities.
Former Turner Station resident U.S. Rep. Kweisi Mfume will deliver a keynote address. (Lisa Snowden)