Letitia Huckaby

{{short description|American photographer (born 1972)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=January 2021}} {{Infobox artist | honorific_prefix = | name = Carita Letitia Huckaby | honorific_suffix = | image =  | image_size = | alt = | caption = | native_name = | native_name_lang = | birth_name = Carita Letitia Jenkins | birth_date = {{birth year and age|1972}} | birth_place = | death_date =  | death_place = | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates =  | education = University of Oklahoma | alma_mater = University of North Texas | known_for = Photography | notable_works = | style = | movement = | spouse = | awards =  | elected = | patrons = | memorials = | website = {{URL|www.letitiahuckaby.com/}} | module = }} '''Carita Letitia Huckaby''' (née '''Jenkins''', born 1972) is an American photographer who creates multimedia artwork combining photography and textiles to depict both family narratives and African American history.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.moderndallas.net/du_chau_leticia_huckaby_kirk_hopper.html|title=Du Chau + Letitia Huckaby|last=|first=|date=|website=ModernDallas.net|publisher=|access-date=March 20, 2016|archive-date=April 1, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160401161824/http://www.moderndallas.net/du_chau_leticia_huckaby_kirk_hopper.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==Life and education==

Before beginning her career as an artist, Huckaby's journey with the arts began in the form of ballet. She was selected to take part in the Oklahoma Summers Arts Institute in 1988 and 1989, where she studied modern dance at Quarts Mountain under the tutelage of Pat Catterson. This is where she was first exposed to photography as an art form, and she was instantly enamored with it. Her parents were less enthused about her prospective career in photography, so she studied journalism with a focus on advertising at the University of Oklahoma.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |title=On View: Letitia Huckaby |url=https://www.artleaguehouston.org/letitia-huckaby |access-date=2023-11-13 |website=Art League Houston |language=en-US}}</ref>

Huckaby earned a degree in journalism from the University of Oklahoma in 1994, after which she took the position of Promotions Coordinator at a radio station in Lawton, Oklahoma. During this time, she studied at a vocational academy, intent on making photography a hobby. She was then invited by the Oklahoma Arts Institute to assist their Public Relations department, where she had the opportunity to visit the photography exhibit Christopher James, an internationally known photographer. Huckaby was taken with his work, particularly his piece ''Dying Man'', and was so moved by it that she decided to return to school and earned a BFA focusing on art photography from The Art Institute of Boston in 2001.<ref name=":2" />

During her time in Boston, she discovered her calling in documentary photography. She documented a dance studio that offered free classes to inner-city children, a historic jazz club called Wally's that was part of the Chitlin' Circuit, backstage at Bobbi Brown cosmetics shows, helping a photographer at a Bishop Desmond Tutu wedding, and honing her craft by using street photography to capture city life. She staged her first show, began working as a photographer, and was the recipient of multiple awards and scholarships.<ref name=":2" />

After earning her degree in Boston, she moved back south to be closer to her family. Her career as a freelance journalist for newspapers and school systems began when she settled in the Dallas/Fort Worth region, where she photographed babies, sports, and weddings.<ref name=":2" /> She married painter Sedrick Huckaby,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Crytzer Pierce |first=Christy |date= |title=Priorities & Persistence: A Conversation with Sedrick and Letitia Huckaby |url=https://www.arts.gov/NEARTS/2011v1-and-comers-arts/priorities-persistence |access-date= |website=National Endowment for the Arts |publisher=}}</ref> had her first child, and lost her father. After this, Huckaby returned to the University of North Texas, where she earned an MFA in photography in 2010.<ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |date= |title=Letitia & Sedrick Huckaby: Call and Response |url=http://www.laitylodge.org/exhibits/letitia-sedrick-huckaby-call-and-response-2/ |access-date=March 20, 2016 |website=Laity Lodge |publisher= |archive-date=March 16, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160316170622/http://www.laitylodge.org/exhibits/letitia-sedrick-huckaby-call-and-response-2/ |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name=":2" />

== Career == Huckaby was one of the artists selected by independent curators to participate in the 2013 Texas Biennial, which showcases "the best emerging and established visual artists in Texas."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.fwweekly.com/2013/05/24/texas-biennial-fort-worth-love/|title=Texas Biennial: Fort Worth Love|last=Mariani|first=Anthony|date=May 24, 2013|website=Fort Worth Weekly|publisher=|access-date=}}</ref> Her works have been shown at the Dallas Contemporary; the Galveston Arts Center in Galveston, Texas; Renaissance Fine Art in Harlem, New York; the McKenna Museum in New Orleans; the Tyler Museum of Art;<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://glasstire.com/events/2018/12/03/lagniappe-works-by-letitia-huckaby/|title=Lagniappe: Works by Letitia Huckaby|website=Glasstire|language=en-US|access-date=February 14, 2020}}</ref> and the Dallas African-American Museum. Her work is part of the permanent collections of the Art Museum of Southeast Texas in Beaumont, the Samella Lewis Contemporary Art Collection at Scripps College in Claremont, California, and the Brandywine Workshop in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.<ref name=":4">{{Cite web|url=http://myemail.constantcontact.com/UPCOMING-EXHIBITIONS--Lavar-Munroe-I-Letitia-Huckaby-I-Michael-Menchaca.html?soid=1100357195551&aid=E3ZiSlF3AUA|title=Upcoming Exhibitions|last=|first=|date=|website=ArtLeague Houston|publisher=|access-date=March 20, 2016}}</ref> She has also given public lectures at the Fort Worth Contemporary Arts Center and the Dallas Contemporary.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.placestogoinfortworth.com/events/974180-Letitia-Huckaby-Artist-Talk/|title=Letitia Huckaby – Artist Talk|last=|first=|date=|website=Places to Go in Fort Worth|publisher=|access-date=March 20, 2016}}</ref>

Huckaby has also created public art projects, including a piece along the Trinity River in Fort Worth at the 4th Street trailhead, one at the Ella Mae Shamblee Branch library in Fort Worth,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://lilianablochgallery.com/menu-artists/menu-letitia-huckaby|title=Letitia Huckaby|last=|first=|date=|website=Liliana Bloch Gallery|publisher=|access-date=March 20, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160315114157/http://lilianablochgallery.com/menu-artists/menu-letitia-huckaby|archive-date=March 15, 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref> and an installation of glass panels at the new Highland Hills Branch Library in Dallas, which reveals silhouettes of community members above the library's main entrance.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/TXDALLAS/bulletins/d5e98a|title=City to open new Highland Hills Branch Library Saturday|last=|first=|date=October 15, 2014|website=Dallas City Newsroom|publisher=|access-date=March 20, 2016}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://art.unt.edu/article/announcements/2014/photography-alumni-letitia-huckabys-public-art-installation-unveiling|title=Photography alumni, Letitia Huckaby's public art installation unveiling|last1=City of Dallas Cultural Affairs|access-date=May 20, 2016}}</ref> She co-founded Kinfolk House, a collaborative project space housed in a historic, hundred year-old home in Fort Worth, in the neighborhood of Polytechnic. She was named the Texas Artist of the Year in 2022.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |title=Letitia |url=https://huckabystudios.com/about/letitia/ |access-date=2023-11-13 |website=Huckaby Studios |language=en-US}}</ref>

Letitia Huckaby is represented by the Talley Dunn Gallery, Dallas.<ref name=":3" />

=== Solo exhibitions === ''Bayou Baroque:'' The mixing of materials to reveal historical topics is exemplified by this 2015 exhibit honoring the nuns at the Sisters of the Holy Family Mother House in New Orleans, Louisiana. The pieces present black women with the same solemn compositional weight as that shown in older master religious paintings. At the same time, the works echo the flowered backgrounds of Kehinde Wiley's contemporary portraits, but bring a domestic twist to the flat plains.<ref name=":4" /><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://artsblog.dallasnews.com/2015/05/artist-letitia-huckaby-explores-the-history-of-an-african-american-convent.html/|title=Artist Letitia Huckaby explores the history of an African-American convent|last=|first=|date=May 10, 2015|website=ArtsBlog Dallas News|publisher=|access-date=March 20, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160401211645/http://artsblog.dallasnews.com/2015/05/artist-letitia-huckaby-explores-the-history-of-an-african-american-convent.html/|archive-date=April 1, 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref>

''Beautiful Blackness'': This one-woman show was exhibited at the new Foto Relevance Gallery in the Houston Museum District in 2020.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Anspon |first=Catherine D. |date=2020-01-10 |title=Groundbreaking Houston Art Gallery Makes a Big Move Into 4411 Montrose — a PaperCity Exclusive |url=https://www.papercitymag.com/arts/foto-relevance-houston-art-gallery-move-4411-montrose-gallery/ |access-date=2023-11-27 |website=PaperCity Magazine |language=en-US}}</ref> The exhibition involves works drawn from multiple portfolios by the artist and taps deep into the historical entanglements surrounding African American life in the rural American South. Huckaby describes it as an exploration of the remains of Freedmen's towns across the south and following the path of the Exodusters.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Letitia Huckaby: Beautiful Blackness {{!}} 6 March - 4 June 2020 - Overview |url=https://fotorelevance.com/exhibitions/17-letitia-huckaby-beautiful-blackness/overview/ |access-date=2023-11-27 |website=Foto Relevance |language=en}}</ref>

''5 Paperdolls: A Contemporary Tale'': This exhibition, first shown in 2020, is a body of works created by Huckaby inspired by the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing of September 15, 1963. The explosion resulted in the deaths of four children, with dozens of others left wounded.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Letitia Huckaby: 5 Paper Dolls: A Contemporary Tale Series {{!}} Talley Dunn Gallery |url=https://talleydunn.com/project/letitia-huckaby-5-paper-dolls-a-contemporary-tale-series/ |access-date=2023-11-27 |language=en-US}}</ref>

''A Tale of Two Greenwoods:'' This project was executed and exhibited in 2020.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Letitia Huckaby: A Tale of Two Greenwoods Series {{!}} Talley Dunn Gallery |url=https://talleydunn.com/project/letitia-huckaby-a-tale-of-two-greenwoods-series/ |access-date=2023-11-27 |language=en-US}}</ref>

''This Same Dusty Road'': This 2020 exhibition examines Huckaby's own faith, family, and cultural heritage in Louisiana, with much of the involved art coming from her memories of family who lived along Louisiana Highway 19. Through these works, Huckaby looks into her own family, particularly the women, and confronting past and present inequities while composing her pieces to evoke old masterworks and altar pieces.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021-03-25 |title=Letitia Huckaby: This Same Dusty Road |url=https://www.lsumoa.org/letitia-huckaby |access-date=2023-10-28 |website=LSU Museum of Art |language=en-US}}</ref>

''And Thy Neighb(our)'': This 2020 exhibition, for which the title was derived from Luke 10:27<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=And Thy Neighb(our) |url=https://artpace.org/exhibitions/and-thy-neighbour/ |access-date=2023-10-28 |website=Artpace San Antonio |language=en-US}}</ref> ("He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’[a]; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself."),<ref>{{Cite web |title=Bible Gateway passage: Luke 10:27 - New International Version |url=https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%2010%3A27&version=NIV |access-date=2023-10-28 |website=Bible Gateway |language=en}}</ref> focuses on essential concepts of the twenty-first century such as community, the collective, home, and identity.<ref name=":1" />

''Bitter Waters Sweet'': In this 2022 exhibition, Huckaby looks at the legacy of Africatown, a historic Black community near Mobile, Alabama. The ''Clotilda'', the ship that had brought them as slaves from Africa, was scuttled in Mobile Bay in 1860 after delivering in order to their conceal illegal activity. The wreckage has since been rediscovered and is the subject of archaeological research. The Talley Dunn Gallery divides the involved artworks into four categories: Water/Landscapes, Ancestors, Descendants, and Africatown.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Letitia Huckaby: Bitter Waters Sweet Series {{!}} Talley Dunn Gallery |url=https://talleydunn.com/project/letitia-huckaby-bitter-waters-sweet-series/ |access-date=2023-10-28 |language=en-US}}</ref>

=== Group exhibitions === ''Make Art with Purpose 2020 (MAP2020): The Further We Roll, The More We Gain'': This arts festival celebrated the centennial of the 19th amendment to the United States Constitution, which protected American citizen's right to vote without regard to their gender.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021-09-21 |title=19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: Women's Right to Vote (1920) |url=https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/19th-amendment |access-date=2023-10-20 |website=National Archives |language=en}}</ref> Nineteen female artists and writers were commissioned for and involved in the festival. They participated in exhibitions, public lectures, workshops, a procession, and educational events that explored themes linked with the 19th amendment or celebrated women who were influential in their lives or society.<ref>{{Cite web |title=MAP2020: The Further We Roll, The More We Gain |url=https://glasstire.com/events/2020/03/05/map2020-the-further-we-roll-the-more-we-gain/ |access-date=2023-10-20 |website=glasstire.com}}</ref>

''State of the Art 2020'': This exhibition consisted of over 100 artworks by 61 different artists, including Letitia Huckaby. The show focused on the cross-sectionality of the artists as they explored subjects such as the creating of real and imagined spaces, connections and relationships with landscapes and power, the concept of time and how it is perceived, and thoughts of home, family, immigration, and a sense of place.<ref>{{Cite web |title=State of the Art 2020 |url=https://themomentary.org/calendar/state-of-the-art-2020/ |access-date=2023-10-20 |website=The Momentary |language=en-US}}</ref>

''Emancipation: The Unfinished Project of Liberation'': This 2023 exhibition opened during the 160th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation. The seven artists involved showed works that responded to John Quincy Adams Wards' bronze sculpture ''The Freedman'', depicting a man on the cusp of liberation, his chains broken but still around his wrists, as though a reminder of his enslavement. Huckaby's chosen work was her 2022 print ''Ms. Angela and the Baby''.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Emancipation: The Unfinished Project of Liberation |url=https://www.cartermuseum.org/exhibitions/emancipation-unfinished-project-liberation |access-date=2023-10-20 |website=www.cartermuseum.org |language=en}}</ref>

=== Series/collections ===

* Bitter Waters Sweet * A Tale of Two Greenwoods * And Thy Neighb(our) * 5 Paperdolls: A Contemporary Tale * Suffer Rage * Beautiful Blackness * 40 Acres... Gumbo Ya Ya * Bayou Baroque * Shop Rags * Sugar Sacks * Flour * LA 19 * Dress Project * Quilts<ref>{{Cite web |title=Letitia |url=https://huckabystudios.com/work/letitia/ |access-date=2023-11-13 |website=Huckaby Studios |language=en-US}}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== *[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0V4x0aIYTs Video from NPR's ''Art and Seek'': “Studio Tour with Letitia Huckaby"] * {{official website|http://www.letitiahuckaby.com/}} *[https://web.archive.org/web/20160315114157/http://lilianablochgallery.com/menu-artists/menu-letitia-huckaby Biography at the Liliana Bock Gallery] {{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Huckaby, Leticia}} Category:American multimedia artists Category:21st-century American textile artists Category:1972 births Category:Living people Category:African-American contemporary artists Category:American contemporary artists Category:African-American photographers Category:African-American women artists Category:University of Oklahoma alumni Category:University of North Texas alumni Category:Textile artists from Texas Category:Photographers from Texas Category:20th-century American photographers Category:21st-century American photographers Category:21st-century American women textile artists Category:20th-century American women photographers Category:21st-century American women photographers Category:20th-century African-American women Category:20th-century African-American artists Category:21st-century African-American women Category:21st-century African-American artists