The Annex Gallery presents V. L. Cox and Stephen Mangum, two contemporary voices who, through distinct languages, articulate a sharp reflection on memory, justice, and the persistence of the image as a form of consciousness. Both artists share an ethical concern that translates into a visual practice of high symbolic density, where beauty is not ornament but resistance.

V. L. Cox (Shreveport, 1962) works between installation, found-object assemblage, and the poetics of repair. Her series End Hate transformed segregation-era doors from the American South into allegories of exclusion and passage—portals not leading to physical spaces, but to collective awareness. In her practice, materials retain the trace of time and act as carriers of history. Cox combines conceptual rigor with political sensitivity, avoiding the rhetoric of protest: her work does not denounce—it reveals. From Arkansas to New York, she has built a language that links memory with responsibility, turning the ordinary into a sign.

Stephen Mangum (Mississippi, 1954) situates his painting within the lineage of contemporary realism while expanding it into a space of moral tension. His portraits—technically precise and psychologically profound—juxtapose the innocence of childhood with the shadows of racial violence. This contrast defines his vision: that of an artist who sees history not as the past, but as an ongoing wound. In his work, light and composition act as instruments of truth, restoring to painting its testimonial power.

Together, Cox and Mangum offer a complementary reading of the image as an act of remembrance. In both, art assumes a civic function: to recall what history tends to erase. Distinct in form yet united in spirit, their works remind us that to look is, still, an ethical act.

Time

Opening  WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 2022 AT 5:30 PM – 7:30 PM

Gallery Hours

WED - SAT 12 PM - 5 PM

Location

The Annex Gallery
1310 Pendleton Street
Cincinnati Ohio
45205