UTC’s Institute of Contemporary Art presents photographer Chris Aluka Berry and oral historian Kelly Elaine Navies Nov. 5-6

Warmly lit close-up portrait of Myra Ann Thomas looking downward beneath the brim of a wide black hat, wearing a black blouse with white polka dots.

Myra Ann Thomas, Travis Chapel Methodist Church, Cleveland, Georgia, 2016. Photo by Chris Aluka Berry.

Documentary photographer Chris Aluka Berry and oral historian, writer and poet Kelly Elaine Navies will visit the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga on Nov. 5-6 for public events connected to Berry’s exhibition, “Affrilachia: Testimonies,” at the Institute of Contemporary Art.

Berry and Navies will take part in “Affrilachia: Testimonies in Text and Image” on Thursday, Nov. 5. A reception begins at 5 p.m. at ICA Chattanooga, followed by a 6 p.m. public conversation in the Card Family Auditorium. Berry will return to ICA Chattanooga for a First Friday book signing from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 6.

Both events are part of “Affrilachia: Testimonies,” an eight-year photographic survey of Black Appalachian life and culture. The exhibition is on display Oct. 15 through Dec. 4 at ICA Chattanooga.

ICA Chattanooga is located in the Fine Arts Center on the UTC campus, at the intersection of Dr. Roland Carter Street (formerly Vine Street) and Palmetto Street. Parking is available in the adjacent Lupton Hall Parking Garage (700 Vine St.).

The term “Affrilachia,” coined by poet Frank X Walker, describes Black Appalachian life and culture. Berry’s photographs focus on historic Black communities in eastern Tennessee, western North Carolina and northern Georgia, documenting families, faith communities, landscapes and traditions.

“This is about our region, and this is not just images,” said Rebecca Brantley, curator and director of ICA Chattanooga. “It’s accompanied by oral history, by poetry, by scholarly work.

“This is a project that is growing. It’s been almost a decade in the works, and I’ve gotten to see Berry develop as an artist and as a documentary photographer.”

The Nov. 5 program brings Berry’s photographs into conversation with Navies’ work as an oral historian and poet. Navies contributed an essay and poems to Berry’s 2024 book, “Affrilachia: Testimonies,” published by the University Press of Kentucky.

Berry, a North Carolina-based documentary photographer and a 2026 Guggenheim Fellow, previously worked as a photojournalist and has produced work for national outlets including The New York Times, NPR, Reuters and the Los Angeles Times. His work is held in collections including the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, the High Museum of Art, the Asheville Art Museum and the Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia. This is the first solo exhibition of Berry’s project in Tennessee.

Brantley said Berry is donating three photographs to the UTC Permanent Collection of Art. The works will add Berry to a collection that includes art by artists with ties to Tennessee and the broader Southeast.

“One of my goals for the ICA is to expand its contemporary holdings,” Brantley said. “It’s exciting to get more work in there that is specific to Tennessee and our history.”

Brantley, who started at UTC in July, previously worked with Berry in 2021 and 2022. She said his ability to tell stories through photographs makes the exhibition accessible to audiences who may be new to contemporary art.

“Chris is a very entertaining storyteller, both in text and image,” she said. “He’s good at speaking to everyone; he’s approachable, accessible and fun to listen to. He can talk about the long history of African Americans in Appalachia—dating back to the 16th century when Spaniards and Africans first came to the region. He also has countless stories about the people he’s met in the last 10 years. I’m excited to have him talk to our students and to members of the community about his work.”

Navies serves as a museum specialist in oral history and coordinator of the Oral History Initiative at the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. She is president of the Oral History Association. Her oral history projects are archived at the Southern Oral History Program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the Reginald F. Lewis Maryland Museum of African American History and Culture, The People’s Archive at DC Public Library, and the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.

Among the communities represented in the exhibition are Bays Mountain in eastern Tennessee, a site involved in the Underground Railroad and the post-Civil War era; Rock Springs Camp Meeting in Mossy Creek, Georgia, an annual gathering held continuously since the late 1800s; and Texana in Murphy, North Carolina, a historic Black community founded in the mid-19th century.

The exhibition and programming are supported by ICA Chattanooga, the Office of the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, the Department of English, the Creative Writing Program and the Africana Studies Program.

ICA Chattanooga is a public gallery that presents art and ideas through exhibitions, research and programming that connect UTC to the Chattanooga community. For more information, email ICA Chattanooga at [email protected].