'Free lunch'

Lamar Whidbee
August 12 - september 9, 2017 | anchorlight

Exhibition statement: In “Free Lunch,” Lamar Whidbee raises questions about the social conditions of students that come from impoverished areas of America and how they’re represented in gifted programs within the school system. A recent News & Observer and Charlotte Observer investigative series called "Counted Out" found that in 2015, one out of every three low-income students with superior math scores was labeled gifted, compared to one out of two high-scoring students whose family income was too high to qualify for federal lunch subsidies.

The investigation also found that only one of every two low-income third graders who scored above grade level in 2010 took high school math in middle school, compared with three of four more affluent students with the same scores. The materials used — found objects and paint — reference this demographic and the systemic oppression that could follow them as they grow up. #whidbeefreelunch

“My work is informed by a lot of the black artists that came out of the identity politics movement. ... My work continues the conversation of this movement because all of the issues and problems around racism and injustice still dominate our culture and our institutions today.”

— Lamar Whidbee