One of our expectations will be to honor a greater number of unsung community representatives, providing them with the attention and praise they would otherwise not be given.
The gratefulness and appreciation shown by those featured in the exhibition are extremely rewarding. Another expectation we have is that all 26 class exhibition tours will be filled, and Youth Day weekend will surpass this year’s 1200 attendees.
And lastly, we expect actionable steps to be discussed, articulated, and implemented on how to form and conduct healthy and lasting community relationships via the humanities lecture series.
OUR WHY BEHIND WHAT WE DO.
The Careys were invited back by One Daytona in February of 2022. This time, they expanded from a 1300-square-foot-space to a 6600-square-foot-space, which they accomplished in just one year. The length of the exhibition also increased from a two-day to a ten-day event. The growth in size mirrored the development of the mission.
The exhibition included public figures such as politicians, firemen, entrepreneurs, professors, healthcare providers, and many others. Imagine a photographic experience that featured the beauty, hard work, and dedication of those you might be familiar with.
For 2023, the mission has become even clearer, and expansion is underway. They have undergone a change in name, and the Careys have made positive steps towards not only becoming a nonprofit organization but obtaining 501(c)(3) status. The exhibition will also be featured in three locations, and now is titled, Cultuvue™, which is a combining of the words Culture + Vue, which equates to Cultuvue™ (pronounced Cul-tu-vue).
THE BEGINNING OF SOMETHING UNIQUE.
Cultuvue™ is an artistic photography exhibition, a creative expression of black culture, utilizing photographic, interactive, and educational components to create a better cultural understanding for our community – all while holistically promoting an accurate and proud black history.
HOW CULTUVUE™ CAME ABOUT.
The primary goal of our organization, Cultuvue™, developed out of a need in our community to reconstruct the one-dimensional (negative) cultural representation of African Americans into its proper perspective as a thriving, vibrant, positive, infinite culture and to share that transformative image through our artistic vision.
THE GENESIS.
Here’s how a Google search led to an annual photography exhibition and the start of a nonprofit organization: in November of 2020, while working on a client project, James and LaToya Carey of Kenneth Grant Inzpirations (KGI) searched the term ‘black male” in hopes of finding inspiration. To their surprise, the results were alarming. Many of the images consistently displayed incarcerated, narcotics-selling and -using individuals, which means that anyone in the community conducting the same search would leave with a completely negative, and false, impression of the African American community, as there were few results portraying positive imagery.
THE PHOTOGRAPHY EXHIBITION.
The Careys’ curiosity led to further research, which helped define their mission. According to a study from the National Research Group (NRG), two in three African Americans do not feel they see their stories or themselves represented in media. In addition, African Americans make up only 1.2% of all art displayed in major arts galleries in America (study at Williams College, PA). Their mission is to provide those positive representations through their fine-art portraiture and to display those images in a free-of-charge, curated exhibition to encourage visual literacy that will lead to communication and understanding among different ethnic groups.
Wanting to make an impact on a local level, James and LaToya set out to rePresent (pronounced ree-present) positive imagery effacing the negative narratives and the underrepresentation of African Americans in visual culture.
In February of 2021, in conjunction with One Daytona, the Careys initiated the inaugural rePresent Photography Exhibition, featuring the beauty of American Americans in the Volusia County area. They were not prepared for the overwhelming response they received from the community: They were able to reach over 2000 attendees in a two-day span. One of those days, coined “Youth Day,” welcomed every elementary, middle and high school student of Volusia and Flagler counties to attend.
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Cultuvue™ (EIN 88-2226265) 501(c)(3)
