Princeton University will honor Toni Morrison a former lecturer and a distinguished novelist renowned for her work of art in creating “Song of Solomon” a masterpiece worthy of its stellar awards. The university will celebrate the author through a series of public art exhibits and activities that explore her creative process and its influence. Toni Morrison who lived in Tribeca died at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx in 2019 of pneumonia.
Beginning on February 22, “Toni Morrison: Sites of Memory” at Princeton University Library’s Millberg Gallery will serve as the focal point of months of events at the institution. The first public performances by artists Daniel Alexander Jones and Mame Diarra Samantha Speis, who will respond to Morrison’s archive and impact via fresh work, will take place on March 24 and 25 at the school’s McCarter Theatre.
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Additionally, there will be a three-day symposium and a spring lecture series where more than 30 authors and artists will come together to discuss Morrison’s legacy.
Other activities will include the showing of “Cycle of Creativity: Alison Saar and the Toni Morrison Papers” at the Princeton University Art Museum. In order to examine how Morrison’s writings relate to the Black American experience, the exhibition will match them with Saar’s sculptures, prints, and textiles. It lasts from February 25 through July 9.
Autumn Womack, an assistant professor of English and African American studies at Princeton, noted in a statement from the university, “It is difficult to overstate the importance of Toni Morrison’s writing to American literature, art, and life.” She added, “this exhibition draws us toward the unexplored corners of her writing process and unknown aspects of her creative investments that only live in this archive.”
However, Womack added, “I also wanted to show how this archive in particular is a site that opens up new lines of inquiry and inspires new kinds of collaboration.” She sought to highlight the significance of Morrison’s work.
Beginning in 1989, Morrison spent 17 years as a literature and writing instructor at Princeton University. After the author, the university later renamed Morrison Hall, which houses its Department of African American Studies. During her career, Morrison also served as a professor at the campuses of Rutgers University in New Brunswick, SUNY Purchase, and SUNY Albany.
