Vinegar Contemporary presents haunting work by Orlando Thompson

Vinegar Contemporary is an artist-run, women-led nonprofit gallery in Birmingham that exhibits and champions artists that push the boundaries in emerging and experimental art forms. The latest creator in that category to exhibit at Vinegar is Orlando Thompson, an artist and filmmaker from St. Louis. 

Through Jan. 22, the gallery will present Thompson’s installation, “Memorials for Souls Can’t Go Home,” which is inspired by roadside memorials.

The multisensory installation — to be presented in a dark room — promises to be a haunting, unforgettable experience, with attendees hearing the fragmented, indecipherable sounds of a human voice.

Thompson questions what happens to a Black person’s soul when it’s “forcibly removed from its host body” due to the violence around the world that is sanctioned by racism and functions as a means of control, according to a news release from the gallery.

“I see a lot more makeshift memorials being erected in remembrance of people killed in malicious ways,” Thompson said in the news release. “I imagine their souls gain density, keeping them bound to this planet and unable to ascend to what is beyond the physical. This project explores what a dense soul could look like and how it might behave.”  

Vinegar Contemporary is located at 701 37th St. S., Suite 12, in Forest Park. 

For details about the exhibition, call 205-201-4489 or go to vinegarprojects.org.