TULSA, Okla. — Black Wall Street Gallery is reopening in it’s new building Friday.
The gallery has been closed since August to renovate at the new location.
Featuring work from black artists locally and nationally, their mission is to bridge the racial gap in Tulsa.
The building is in the heart of the Greenwood District on 10 North Greenwood Avenue.
Owner Dr. Ricco Wright said it represents love, acceptance and understanding.
The reopening will start with the healing series..
Wright said the featured art comes at the right time as city of Tulsa plans to excavate where potential mass graves are believed to be buried and the centennial year of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre.
He hopes the art will allow Tulsans to be honest about the past and begin the process of healing by listening and learning.
“We let go of ego and we open ourselves up to whatever that unknown might be," Wright said. "It’s okay to be ignorant about something, but it’s not okay to be willfully ignorant and I think it’s only through love we come to that type of understanding.”
Wright said he’s thrilled to be growing and expanding in historic Black Wall Street where so many came before him.
“We’re here to preserve that history and we’re also interested in cultural preservation. So, for us, we represent the ancestors, the black wall street pioneers who paved the way for us. They were self-reliant," Wright said. "They were resilient. They were incredible humans who history has left out of the history books.”
Wright believes the community is still divided, but hopes to bridge that gap by creating a space like the gallery to have open and honest conversations.
The gallery is open to the public Friday at 6 p.m.
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