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“Hard Lessons In Light”
March 20 @ 10:00 am – 5:00 pm
Lisa Brown’s “Hard Lessons In Light” is a photography exhibition centered on Black women as teachers, memory keepers, and cultural guides whose knowledge has often been shaped through struggle, displacement, and care. The exhibit runs Feb. 6 through April 11. Opening Reception is Feb. 6 from 5 to 8 p.m. Gallery hours: Co-Op + Gallery Hours
Tuesday
1 – 8 p.m.
Wednesday
1 – 8 p.m.
Thursday
1 – 8 p.m.
Friday
10 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Saturday
10 a.m. – 5 p.m.
About the exhibit: “Hard Lessons in Light” reflects on what is learned when difficult histories are brought into view. his photography exhibition centers Black women as teachers, memory keepers, and cultural guides whose knowledge has often been shaped through struggle, displacement, and care. Their lessons are not abstract, they emerge from lived experience, community responsibility, and resilience.
Education, in this context, extends beyond classrooms and institutions. Black women have long taught through storytelling, example, and collective memory, even when formal systems denied them access or authority. These forms of teaching, rooted in lived knowledge, expand how education is defined and practiced.
Diversity among women educators strengthens educational outcomes for all students. Research has shown that when students learn in environments that include racially and culturally diverse teachers, academic engagement increases and measurable outcomes, such as standardized test scores, attendance, and long-term educational attainment, often improve. Students benefit not only from representation, but from expanded teaching approaches that value multiple ways of learning, communicating, and understanding the world.
By bringing these community educators into the light, the exhibition asks viewers to consider what has been lost, what has endured, and what can be restored. Hard Lessons in Light invites reflection on education as both a site of inequity and possibility.
