Vanessa Charlot: Between Rivers and Revolution
On view: March 24, 2025–June 13, 2025
Opening reception: Friday, March 28, 2025 from 6-8 pm. Begonia Labs: 2805 West End Avenue, Nashville, TN.
Vanessa Charlot Artist Conversation: Saturday, March 29, 2025 from 10:30 – 11:30 pm. Location: Frist Art Museum. See event link for more details.
The river remembers—carrying the echoes of those who fought for liberation. Vanessa Charlot’s lens moves between the waters of the Mississippi Delta, the tides of Haiti, and the currents off Florida’s coast. She traces the spiritual, cultural, and revolutionary ties that bind these landscapes—a journey shaped by her own lived experience as a Miami-born Haitian American, now rooted in Mississippi.
With a visual aesthetic both documentary and poetic, Charlot juxtaposes the Mississippi Delta—shaped by the labor of the enslaved—with Haiti, the first free Black republic, forged in revolution. Between them, Florida’s waters serve as both passage and threshold—for migrants, refugees, and dreamers.
Spiritual traditions—Vodou, Candomblé, and Catholicism—form an unbroken current of reverence, resistance, and survival. A devotee offers prayers to Oshun; a Candomblé priestess kneels before Yemaya’s waves; a woman bows in Good Friday prayer, her faith intertwined with generations before her.
Charlot’s images also capture the sacred pause between past and future, stillness and movement. In Morgan City, Mississippi, an elderly man gazes over land that once enslaved his ancestors but now belongs to his family. In Cap-Haïtien, Haiti, a man watches resistance unfold, his steady eyes reflecting a nation gripped in protest and mourning.
Each frame collapses distance, showing how these spaces—and the waters that connect them—speak to one another. In Between Rivers and Revolutions, Charlot reminds us that these places are bound not only by struggle, but by the enduring spirit of those who move through to reclaim them.
This exhibition is part of Somewhere We Are Human, the Spring 2025 Public Programs and Engagement Series of the Engine for Art, Democracy & Justice at Vanderbilt University and is supported by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
–Grace Aneiza Ali, Curator, Somewhere We Are Human
Download the online exhibition catalog here: Between Rivers and Revolutions_ EADJ. Spring 2025
About the Artist:
Vanessa Charlot is an award-winning photographic artist, filmmaker, and Assistant Professor of Media and Communication at the University of Mississippi School of Journalism and New Media. Her work transcends traditional boundaries, blending documentary photography, filmmaking, and interdisciplinary research to explore the complex intersectionality of race, politics, culture, and gender. Charlot’s artistic practice intertwined with the exploration of Black life, compelling viewers to confront and reimagine the often distorted narratives that shape perceptions of Black bodies. Drawing from Saidiya Hartman’s “critical fabulation,” Charlot uses her art to weave together history, memory, and imagination, disrupting conventional notions of objectivity and neutrality in visual storytelling. Her projects are both intimate and politically resonant, serving as acts of reclamation and reframing that aim to restore and recontextualize the histories and legacies of her subjects. Through her lens, Charlot engages in a form of storytelling that challenges boundaries, giving voice to the untold and overlooked.
Her photographs and films have garnered international acclaim, with works commissioned by The New York Times, Gucci, Vogue, Rolling Stone, The New Yorker, Oprah Magazine, The Atlantic, The Guardian, Apple, New York Magazine, Buzzfeed, Artnet News, and The Washington Post, among others. In November 2022, Charlot’s work graced the cover of The Washington Post’s Photo Issue, further cementing her influence in contemporary visual culture. Charlot’s career spans the U.S., the Caribbean, and Southeast Asia, where she has not only documented diverse experiences but also provided holistic safety training to leading media outlets. Her dedication to the craft and the community was recognized with the International Women’s Media Foundation Courage in Journalism Award in 2021, underscoring her commitment to storytelling that is as courageous as it is compassionate.
Events and Exhibition Programs
Friday, March 28, 6:00- 8:00pm
Opening Reception for the exhibition Between Rivers and Revolutions by Vanessa Charlot
The river remembers. It carries the weight of stories, the pulse of resistance, and the echoes of those who have fought for liberation. Vanessa Charlot’s lens moves between the waters of the Mississippi Delta, the tides that lap Haiti’s shores, and the currents off Florida’s coast, tracing the spiritual, cultural, and revolutionary ties that bind these landscapes together.
–Grace Aneiza Ali, Curator, Somewhere We Are Human
Event Details:
- Begonia Labs: 2805 West End Avenue, Nashville, TN.
- Admission: Free and open to the public.
The Engine for Art, Democracy & Justice is partnering with the Vanderbilt’s Center for Latin American, Caribbean, and Latinx Studies (CLACX) Program during Vanderbilt’s first Caribbean Week. See here the full list of events for Caribbean Week 2025.
Saturday, March 29, 2025 from 10:30 – 11:30 am.
Conversation with Haitian American artist, Vanessa Charlot
Join Haitian American artist and photographer Vanessa Charlot for a conversation with Grace Aneiza Ali, curator of the Engine for Art, Democracy & Justice (EADJ) at Vanderbilt University, and Katie Delmez, Frist Art Museum Senior Curator.
Charlot’s exhibition Between Rivers and Revolutions is currently on view at EADJ’s Begonia Labs: 2805 West End Avenue, Nashville, TN.
Through her lens, Charlot explores the intersections of Black identity, migration, and spirituality, moving between the waters of the Mississippi Delta, Haiti’s shores, and Florida’s coastlines.
Presented in collaboration with the Engine for Art, Democracy, and Justice, this conversation has been planned in conjunction with the Frist’s current exhibition What the Body Carries, featuring Haitian American artists M. Florine Démosthène and Didier William, whose work explores how they navigate spaces beyond Haiti while remaining deeply informed by the country’s cultural and spiritual traditions.
Event Details:
- Frist Art Museum: 919 Broadway, Nashville, TN 37203.
- Admission: Free and open to the public. There is no charge to attend the conversation. If guests wish to see the current exhibitions on view, Frist Art Museum admission applies.
- Event Link for more details.
Monday, March 24 – Saturday, March, 29, 2025.
Partner Events__Caribbean Week at Vanderbilt University
Vanderbilt University’s Center for Latin American, Caribbean, and Latinx Studies (CLACX) invites students, faculty, and the greater Nashville community to join in the celebration of the first-ever Caribbean Week from March 24 to March 29, 2025. This landmark event promises a dynamic series of discussions, cultural activities, and community-building opportunities highlighting the rich heritage, history, and contemporary issues of the Caribbean and its diaspora.
Caribbean Week is designed to foster thoughtful engagement on topics of culture, politics, and identity, with a special focus on the African Diaspora in the Caribbean. It will also provide an opportunity to highlight the importance of Caribbean Studies in the global and academic contexts, including the upcoming launch of the Caribbean Studies minor, a CLACX program expected to begin in the next semesters. We hope this initiative will strengthen ties across Vanderbilt and the broader Nashville community while creating a meaningful space for dialogue and connection. We are excited to collaborate with campus and community partners to make this event impactful and inspiring on academic, cross-institutional, and community engagement levels.
Schedule Highlights
The week features a wide range of engaging events, including:
Monday, March 24
“Rulers & Revolutionaries: The Epic Lives of Jean-Jacques Dessalines and Henri Christophe, Haiti’s First Emperor and King”with Dr. Julia Gaffield (William & Mary) and Dr. Marlene Daut (Yale University).
Central Library’s Community Room, 4:30 – 6:00 PM. Reception to follow
Tuesday, March 25
“Biography as Liberation: The Lives of Louis-Joseph Janvier and Madamme Suzanne Simone Baptiste Louverture in the Struggle for Haitian Sovereignty and Black Visibility”with Dr. Chelsea Stieber (Tulane University) and Dr. Robin Mitchell (The University at Buffalo), moderated by Professor Brandon Byrd (Vanderbilt History and AADS).
Central Library’s Community Room, 4:30 – 6:00 PM.
Thursday, March 27
Vanderbilt CSA Students Panel and Luncheon
CSA students sharing their career trajectories and future plans while at VU.
VCL Satellite at Rothschild College, 12:00 – 1:00 PM.
Box lunches for attendees
Film Screening of “Chèche Lavi.”
“Chèche Lavi is a lyrical portrait of two Haitian migrants, Robens and James, who find themselves stranded at the U.S.- Mexico border with no way forward and no one to rely on but each other.”
Buttrick Hall 103, 5:00 – 7:30 PM.
Friday, March 28
HBCU Caribbean Connections Panel in Collaboration with Meharry Medical College and Tennessee State University.
Begonia Labs, 5:00 – 6:00 PM.
Begonia Labs is located at 2805 West End Ave.
CLACX x EADJ Open House and Opening Reception for Between Rivers and Revolutions, an exhibition by Vanessa Charlot.
Begonia Labs, 6:00 – 8:00 PM.
Begonia Labs is located at 2805 West End Ave.
Saturday, March 29
Between Rivers and Revolutions– Vanessa Charlot in Conversation with Grace Aneiza Ali and Katie Delmez
Frist Art Museum, 10:30 AM – 12:00 PM.
Frist Art Museum: 919 Broadway, Nashville, TN 37203.
CSA Carnival Celebration.
Vanderbilt University’s Alumni Lawn, 1:00 – 4:00 PM.
Additional Resources:
- Between Rivers and Revolutions, exhibition catalog
- Vanderbilt's Then and Now Program partnership with EADJ.