Lives in the Crosshairs: Sharpshooters, Champions and Angels is a contemplative dialogue between printmaker Justyne Fischer, and mixed media portrait and printmaking artist Morgan Monceaux. Fischer and Monceaux share printmaking as a creative process, and portraiture to render persona. Their reflective oeuvre is a visual chronicle of life narratives—buried, and miraculous tales of character, strategic brilliance and sheer will. In the process, they incite the spirits of these largely forgotten lives, and recapture the context within which they lived.

Among the artists who have historically engaged many aspects of society in their work, Social Justice printmaker Justyne Fischer explores the fibrous roots of American racism and its enduring impact. Her skilled precision and diligent investigation of cultural history and events invoke the stories of ancestors that have shaped our nation in meaningful ways. On view are meticulously detailed, hand-pulled prints that reveal her agility as storyteller, printmaker and painter.

Artist Morgan Monceaux, Shadowball “And You’re Out!”

Co-featured in the exhibition are works from the Shadowball  series by the late Morgan Monceaux . The series depicts in portrait and print the colorful legacy of the Negro Leagues. It chronicles a broader history of baseball, while reflecting on the ongoing struggle for justice and equal rights in America.

A visionary artist and history buff, Monceaux was inspired by the narratives of artists, leaders and cultural icons. He would define hidden corners of history and research the subject. A sampling of his series of mixed media portraits includes topics such as international royalty (The Royals), African American opera legends (Divas), the shared history of African Americans and Native Americans in the West (My Heroes, My People), and Jazz greats (Jazz).

Fischer and Monceaux engage subject matter that is compelling and often astonishing. The viewer will recognize recurring themes of marginalization and scorn within a context where broader notions of supremacy are typically evidenced or forever implied. The exhibition depicts anecdotal tales of lives that have punctuated the annals of history in ways that magnify the broader context of the American experience.

Michelle Talibah, Curator