William Turner Gallery

Halo presents an amazing cast of historical Black figures, most of whom were legendary and mythic characters in their time, but have been nearly lost to the vagaries and biases of history as seen through a white lens. With Halo, Mar Steven Greenfield brings these compelling lives back into view, honoring their memory by adorning them with halos as a sign of reverence and respect. “I am reimagining what a saint is,” Greenfield says. “Maybe in studying their stories, they can inform us on better ways to live.”

Throughout his career, Greenfield's work has dealt with elucidating the African American experience—examining stereotypes and other acts of oppression, often by illuminating the most oppressive of acts—those of omission. Halo spans a rich diversity of time periods and geography to bring us stories of Black lives that begin to shed light on the complex impact that slavery and racial disenfranchisement have had on the historical record. The stories range from those of powerful leaders to ordinary people, many of whom became Black folk-heroes through their extraordinary acts of defiance and resistance.