Hartford, Harriett Beecher Stowe, Exhibit

The Stowe Center opens our Gallery for Literary Activism and welcomes a bold inaugural exhibit: Revolutionary [Re]Imagining, a stirring visual journey by Connecticut artist and self-described “artivist” David Jackson. Through this multi-generational and multi-sensory exhibition, Jackson invites visitors to sit with the tension, beauty, and power of Black literary activism. This exhibit is free and open to the public from May through October and is accessible in the Visitor Center during all open hours. 

Art as Legacy, Art as Liberation

“I’m not just painting faces,” Jackson says. “I’m channeling voices.”

Spanning two decades of work, Revolutionary [Re]Imagining features intentional portraits of visionary figures—Maya Angelou, James Baldwin, Tupac Shakur, Erykah Badu, and others—interwoven with abstract elements, color symbolism, and raw materials. Each piece carries both personal and political weight.

“I call them iconographies,” Jackson explains. “It’s not just likeness; it’s memory, message, and spirit.”

The exhibit is both a personal timeline and a cultural mirror. In one corner, you’ll find graphite and acrylic portraits with precise detail. In another, red-toned canvases—his “Power Series”—call up urgency and intensity, inspired by everything from Jay-Z lyrics to Mark Rothko’s emotional color fields.
Why This Exhibit, Why Now?

“Art is the pause,” Jackson says. “The invitation to slow down and sit with discomfort.”

He hopes Revolutionary [Re]Imagining inspires new dialogues about race, power, liberation—and what it means to imagine a freer world. “We [the Black community] are not asking for a handout,” he says. “Just don’t build against us. Leave the door open. We’ll build.”

More than a gallery exhibit, this is a call to reimagine what’s possible—together.