Blog
Freedom and Form: Honoring Juneteenth Through Art, Dialogue, and Community
July 2, 2025 | By Shazia Mir
This June we honored Juneteenth, through art and storytelling, to shed light on the ongoing journey toward liberation. It was an afternoon filled with reflection, connection, art and moments of restoration. We’re so grateful to everyone who joined us in honoring the day and all it represents.
Our art exhibit, Freedom and Form bought together incredible works by artists whose practices are rooted in resistance, memory, healing and activism. They showed how art can offer new ways of seeing, remembering, and imagining what freedom looks and feels like. We are honored to showcase their work at Gallery 1832 and beyond proud of the conversations it sparked.
Artist Jamaal Bonnette shared, “Juneteenth to me means the amplification of Blackness”. It’s a day that reminds us not just of the delayed promise of freedom, but of the enduring strength, creativity, and brilliance of Black communities. It’s not only about remembrance but also resonance. Ensuring that the echoes of history don’t fade, and one way of doing just that is through creativity such as art, dialogue, action and community.
Our panel, Art as Resistance and Restoration, carried those themes forward into rich, vulnerable, and thought-provoking dialogue. Huge thanks to the brilliant artists who participated and to the incomparable Amanda Shea for moderating with such clarity, care, and wisdom. Amanda’s gift for holding space especially when it comes to conversations at the intersection of art, identity, and justice is unparalleled.
As artist DaNice Marshall poignantly stated during the panel, “We are more the same than we are different.” reminding us that while our experiences may be shaped by different histories, what drives us, dignity, belonging, and connection is shared.
One of the most moving moments came after the event, in the form of a reflection sent by a guest. She didn’t get a chance to ask her question during the panel but remembered something she'd heard at our Pride event earlier in the month, Pride in Leadership Authenticity as a Superpower: If you have a burning question, ask it to yourself. And so she did
She reflected on the words of Lucille Clifton, the poet and environmentalist who wrote:
"being property once myself
i have a feeling for it,
that’s why i can talk
about environment
what wants to be a tree,
ought to be he can be it.
same thing for other things.
same thing for men."
She asked herself: What empowers us to shape the environment around us? The answer: A deep knowledge of suffering gained through experience, learning, and witnessing, and a desire to lessen it for others. At its truest form it captured why we hold space for moments like this, and what makes the LabCentral community so special. It’s about creating environments where science, art, and humanity don’t just coexist but also uplift and fuel one another.
On a personal note, this is what drives me every day: the deep belief that diversity in thought, in experience, in identity makes everything we do more meaningful, more impactful, and more whole. It’s not just a value, it’s a fact.
Thank you to the artists, speakers, partners, and guests who helped bring Freedom and Form to life. The conversations don’t end here. Let’s keep asking questions, shaping our environments with care, and showing up for one another in art, in science, and community.
Special thanks to our artists:
Jamaal Bonnette
https://www.instagram.com/connflique/
DaNice D Marshall
Cedric Douglas
https://www.instagram.com/vise_1_boston/?hl=en
Laura Palmer Edwards
https://www.instagram.com/living_colorart/?hl=en
Sophia ‘Phia’ Dubuisson
Amanda Shea
Lavaughan Jenkins
https://www.instagram.com/lavaughanjenkins_studio/?hl=en