‘It’s All Art’: Legendary Gallerist Linda Goode Bryant on Why She Doesn’t Like the Term Social Practice, and How Feeding People Is a Creative Act
In the first in a four-part series on social practice art, we speak to Linda Goode Bryant ahead of MoMA’s show on her pioneering gallery, JAM.
By Folasade Ologundudu
This is the first interview in a four-part series by Folasade Ologundudu featuring Black artists across generations who work with social practice.
The exhibition “Just Above Midtown: Changing Spaces” will debut at the Museum of Modern Art in New York almost half a century after Linda Goode Bryant first opened the doors of the gallery that inspired the show just a few blocks away, on West 57th Street.
At that time, JAM was the only gallery of its kind. Black-owned and operated, it existed to champion Black artists in the center of New York City’s incomparable art scene in the 1970s and ‘80s. Although many of these names— David Hammons, Senga Nengudi, Howardena Pindell—are now considered among the most important figures in 20th century art, they had vanishingly few spaces to show back then.
A mother of two, artist, activist, and filmmaker, Bryant has always operated outside the mainstream. She is a tenacious self-starter, devoted mother, generous friend, and fierce advocate who has spent her life and career working to share the stories and positively impact the lives of those who have experienced racism, poverty, and displacement.
Bryant’s best-known works include JAM (Just Above Midtown) gallery, which ran from 1974 to 1986; the 2003 documentary film Flag Wars, which traced the tension between the white gay community and the Black community in Bryant’s hometown of Columbus, Ohio; and Project Eats, an urban farming initiative that occupies vacant lots and rooftops across New York City, which she still runs. ( … )