Rights Along the Shore

Danielle Abrams and Mary Ellen Strom

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We are shocked and saddened to learn of the untimely death of beloved artist and educator, Danielle Abrams. In accordance with her family’s wishes, we will move forward with tonight’s opening of Danielle Abrams’ and Mary Ellen Strom’s exhibition, Rights Along the Shore, in the Mills Gallery at Boston Center for the Arts. We hope that this will provide Danielle’s friends, family, and colleagues the necessary space to gather, remember, and reflect upon Danielle’s life and work.

Come together from 6—9pm at the Mills Gallery, 551 Tremont Street, Boston.

*For more information, please contact Heshan de Silva-Weeramuni at heshan@bostonarts.org.

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Public Programs Associated with Rights Along the Shore:

Freedom in Water, Body of Water, Bodies in Water (Colloquium)
Friday, April 15, 1-4pm
Plaza Theatre at Boston Center for the Arts,
539 Tremont St.
Boston, MA 02116

Opening Reception
Friday, April 22,  6-9 pm

Rights Along the Shore is On View:

April 2 —May 28, 2022
Open: Wednesday—Saturday, 1pm—6pm
BCA Mills Gallery, 551 Tremont St., Boston, MA 02116

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Rights Along the Shore proposes a reconsideration of segregated swimming sites in Northern and Southern US locations, specifically the social transformation and social costs ignited by the NAACP-organized “wade-in” resistance at South Boston’s Carson Beach in the summer of 1975.

Rights Along the Shore is a conceptual and collaborative exhibition that examines the long-term effects of racially segregated swimming sites within the Northern and Southern United States. It follows the trajectory of Abrams’ and Strom’s series titled “Wade Ins,” research-based projects that employ participatory practices to examine recreational segregation in the South and de-facto segregation in the North. 

To produce this project, Abrams and Strom have had the honor to be in conversation with many neighbors, organizers, activists, writers, and educators including:

• Leon Rock, Journalist and NAACP Youth Affairs Advisor, 1975
• Michael Patrick McDonald, writer, educator and activist author of All Souls: A Family Story from Southie and advocate for survivor families in Boston’s anti-violence movement
• Alicia Baez, former Roxbury resident who attended South Boston High School
• Caitlyn Murphy, South Boston resident, educator and youth advocate; and leaders and participants in South Boston Neighborhood House’s after school programs, among others. 

Rights Along the Shore is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Margaret Rose Vendryes.