Archival documents and artifacts from Randolph W. Bromery's life arranged on a wooden surface
Collection of documents, photographs, and old TVs and equipment stacks on a wooden floor

Surveying Gravity: A Mirror for Growing Contradictions

Surveying Gravity: A Mirror for Growing Contradictions
Augusta Savage Gallery

By Justin Randolph Thompson
September 4–25
Reception: September 10

Justin Randolph Thompson presents Surveying Gravity: A Mirror for Growing Contradictions, a research-driven, performance-based project exploring the remarkable life of the artist’s grandfather, former UMass chancellor Randolph W. Bromery. Bromery was a Tuskegee Airman, geophysicist, and jazz musician whose life bridged art, science, and service. In 2020, UMass renamed the building originally called the Fine Arts Center in Bromery’s honor. In Surveying Gravity, Thompson tells the story of his grandfather’s legacy through an interactive recreation of Bromery’s unfinished basement, which served as a sort of lounge, salon, and study. The installation, a collaboration with Bradly Dever Treadaway and Jason Thompson, includes key elements evoking that space, including a pool table, a record collection, and drawers of archival materials. Visitors are invited to step inside, listen to music, play pool, and browse archival materials and photographs, while engaging with Thompson’s memories of his grandfather, a pioneering educator and scholar. 

Surveying Gravity is funded by Creative Capital and the MAP Fund.

 “It doesn’t take some crazy rescuing to pull out most legacies. The stuff is there; it’s just about caring for it.” — Justin Randolph Thompson

Black and white portrait of artist Justin Randolph Thompson
Justin Randolph Thompson

Justin Randolph Thompson is an artist, cultural facilitator, and educator born in Peekskill, New York. Based between Italy and the United States since 1999, he is the co-founder and director of Black History Month Florence, a multidisciplinary initiative exploring Black histories and cultures in Italy. Founded in 2016, the initiative has produced more than 300 events and supports nine ongoing research platforms and has since evolved into The Recovery Plan, a Black cultural center.

Thompson is the recipient of numerous awards including a 2022 Creative Capital Award, a 2020 Italian Council Research Fellowship, a Louis Comfort Tiffany Award, and a Franklin Furnace Fund Award. His work has been exhibited internationally at institutions including the Whitney Museum of American Art, Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, and the American Academy in Rome, and is held in collections such as the Studio Museum in Harlem and Museo MADRE. Through his practice, Thompson examines socio-cultural stratification, community formation, and collective action.