Artists aim to preserve Third Ward history
Jamal Cyrus grew up in Third Ward. Not literally speaking — the 48-year-old was raised in Missouri City — but it’s where he found himself as an artist and gained an appreciation for the rich culture and history that help define Houston’s Black community.
As Third Ward continues to change amid gentrification, losing longtime residents and cultural institutions that make up the fabric of the neighborhood, Cyrus felt there was no better time to present “Levels and Layers: An Artist’s Reflections on Third Ward.” He and co-curator Alvia Wardlaw put together the exhibition as a way of celebrating the history of Third Ward through the eyes of the people who made it what it is.
“It’s important to me, because like so many aspects of Houston’s history, it’s disappearing and I really feel that the people who made my experience possible are no longer there,” Cyrus said. “I don’t know if that cultural mix will ever happen again in the neighborhood because of gentrification and other things that are happening, so I just thought it was time to recognize that myself and also bring it to the attention of others.”
“Levels and Layers” is on display at the University Museum at Texas Southern University through Sept. 19 and is being presented in partnership with the Blaffer Museum at the University of Houston, which is showing a concurrent mid-career survey of Cyrus’ work titled “The End of My Beginning.”
The University Museum’s doors open into a main hall of sorts lined with photographs of Third Ward scenes and its characters, some taken as recently as this year and others that stretch back decades. At the top of one wall reads a sign that says “Your Third Ward Here.” Residents are invited to bring in their own photographs of the neighborhood to have them photocopied and hung among the other artwork.
Other quadrants of the gallery feature works from legendary Houston artists such as John Biggers, Carroll Simms and Earlie Hudnall, among others. Like those three, many of the featured artists are former students or professors at the historically Black Texas Southern University, a cornerstone of Third Ward since the mid-20th century.
“I’m so pleased with it overall because it literally provides a narrative of how Third Ward has grown, how it has changed and what it is trying to be now, and I just think it’s such a smart exhibition,” said Stephanie Richardson, a Northside native and volunteer at the University Museum.
“Growing up here, Third Ward was always the community you gravitated to. There was always something going on and its always been such a center of Houston’s Black community, and when I walk through and see these pictures, it strikes all the memories of what Third Ward was and how it has evolved,” Richardson said.
The exhibition is meant to be a celebration of Third Ward, but also an educational tool for old and new residents alike, according to community historian and museum docent William North.
“There are definitely challenges in terms of gentrification and displacement, but the community is transforming and (the curators) wanted to be mindful of that, knowing the people that have been here for years and allowing them to have a greater appreciation and understanding of what’s around them, and for the people who aren’t as familiar with it and might be new, having an engagement with it,” North said.
“Levels and Layers” is part of a broader effort that Cyrus is coordinating to preserve Third Ward history, though its not without its challenges. That’s why the pieces already on display at the museum are so important, and why the curators hope that residents will come in to share their own photos and memories.
“Coming up with a photographic history of what the neighborhood looked like, and documenting the trajectory of the neighborhood, is very difficult, so I wanted to approach that same idea but kind of from another angle,” Cyrus said. “It’s going to take a real collective effort to make that happen.”