Temporary Exhibitions
Shining a Light 2023 opens in March! This year's theme: Women and Prison
The Muhammad Ali Center in Louisville, Kentucky is honored to announce its ninth annual “Shining a Light” International Photography Contest and subsequent exhibition. This year the Ali Center is asking participants to submit photographs that illustrate the unique ways in which incarceration affects women prisoners.
Anyone, professional or amateur, around the world can enter, and cash prizes will be given out to the selected winners.
New Upcoming Exhibit! - The I Was Here Project
The I Was Here project began in 2016 as a set of emblematic Ancestor Spirit Portraits created by photographing contemporary African Americans as archetypal Ancestor Spirits. The portraits embody Family: mother, father, brother, sister. They form cohesive, ethereal images that convey the dignity of the African American individual and family – imagery mostly missing in America’s visual history.
The Muhammad Ali Center is working with the I Was Here Project to display for the first time(!!), the full catalog of Ancestor Spirit Portraits produced since the project’s inception in 2016.
The exhibit opens to the public August 27, 2022 and will remain open through February 12. 2023.
Past Shining a Light Exhibit Photos
Also on Exhibit:
What Lifts You? (Kelsey Montague Street Art)
Kelsey Montague’s art has been featured in Taylor Swift’s music videos, celebrity Instagrams, and murals across the country. Now, it’s coming to Louisville in a new temporary exhibit at the Muhammad Ali Center. Montague’s six new works were debuted to the public for the first time at the exhibit’s grand opening on Wednesday, May 11.
Montague’s artwork explores how public art, interactive art, and social media intersect. Each wall of the Muhammad Ali Center’s Ina Brown Bond gallery will exhibit one of Kelsey’s original mural pieces inspired by Muhammad Ali. Fans may recognize her famous wing murals with intricate designs, always in public places for passersby to celebrate and pose with.
The artist said "I hope that when people visit this exhibit, they will be inspired to reflect on what most lifts them in their own life and how through strength, compassion, and integrity we can keep our most valuable ideals central to our own life journey.”
“Muhammad Ali epitomizes strength, compassion and integrity,” Montague said. “I am thrilled to exhibit those ideals within this exhibit. I designed each piece to give the viewer an opportunity to reflect on Muhammad Ali’s incredible life and to interact with the strength and compassion that defined him.”
Guests are encouraged to interact with the art, to take photographs with the murals and post those photographs to their social media, using the hashtags #WhatLiftsYou and #LiftWithAli.
“Muhammad’s legacy built a foundation for us to rise to our greatest potential,” Muhammad Ali Center CEO and President Marilyn Jackson said. “And just as he lifted us, Kelsey’s work invites us to reflect on What Lifts You. Her art captures his greatness and profound innovation and we’re proud to have it featured in our Ina B. Bond Gallery.”
The murals will be on exhibit at the Center through December 31, 2022, free with the price of regular admission.
The Ali Center thanks Title Boxing for their support and sponsorship of this temporary exhibit.
