Weeksville Heritage Center on Monday announced the appointment of acclaimed writer and scholar Sharifa Rhodes-Pitts as its inaugural Curator-in-Residence, alongside the opening of homework, a new exhibition and public program series on view beginning Feb. 12 through March 20.
Developed during Rhodes-Pitts’ residency at Weeksville, homework brings together artists working across photography, sculpture, textiles and video to explore the domestic sphere as a site of memory, transformation and political imagination. Drawing on scholar Sara Ahmed’s assertion that “feminism is homework,” the exhibition considers home not as a static refuge, but as a place continually shaped by labor, longing and collective care.
“As a curator-in-residence, Sharifa Rhodes-Pitts’ work is bound to elicit feelings related to the importance of land, place and legacy in our lives,” said Dr. Raymond Codrington, president and chief executive officer of Weeksville Heritage Center. “Her project, homework, draws a line between the contemporary moment and the historical arc of Weeksville’s existence, helping us better understand the meaning of freedom and community.”
The exhibit engages Weeksville’s historic legacy not only as a preserved site, but as a living home, echoing the founding vision of the original free Black settlement, where the intimate act of building a home was inseparable from the public act of claiming space, freedom and self-determination.
"It's a honor to pursue this work at Weeksville, where the ongoing project of Black liberation is made visible," said Rhodes-Pitts. "My practice has always been driven by a desire to trace the imprint of the past in our daily lives; on this ground the future is built. I'm so grateful to be in collaboration with the Weeksville team, and inspired by their dedication to steward, resource and reimagine its possibilities."
Through exhibitions and intergenerational public programs, the project invites visitors into reflective encounters that combine art, education and action.
