Southern Grammar
August 15, 2025
“The South has always had something to say.”
Clarence Heyward
Artist/Curator
When André 3000 declared at the 1995 Source Awards that “The South got something to say,” he wasn’t just defending Southern hip-hop—he was signaling a cultural shift. That moment became a rallying cry, a declaration that the American South is a force in shaping art, music, and identity far beyond its borders.
Southern Grammar picks up that thread, bringing together the powerful, distinct voices of three Southern artists: Jeremy Biggers (Texas), Sam Lao (Virginia), and Jo Baskerville (North Carolina). Each brings a unique visual language informed by place, memory, and lived experience—offering new narratives rooted in the Black Southern diaspora.
Curator and artist Clarence Heyward reflects, “The South has always had something to say,” and in this exhibition, that truth resounds across mediums. From Biggers’ hyperreal portraits to Lao’s joyfully textured tufted works and Baskerville’s evocative black-and-white silhouettes, these artists don’t just tell stories—they reshape them.
Their work is united by a common urgency: to preserve, uplift, and evolve the South’s rich tradition of storytelling.
With reverence and rebellion, they challenge conventional histories and carve space for voices too often left out of the canon. Southern Grammar is both homage and assertion—proof that Southern expression is not monolithic, but expansive, dynamic, and deeply necessary in today’s cultural conversation.