Art, Design, and the Palimpsest of History and Memories

This presentation explores the intersection of art, design, and historical memory through the lens of Palimpsest: Tales Spun From Sea and Memories—originally presented at the 2022 Venice Biennale, Grenada National Pavilion—and Indigo: Entanglements. Drawing from these bodies of work, the discussion will delves into the layering and mining of histories, archives, materiality, and visual storytelling as acts of resistance, and reclamation. Engaging with the palimpsestic nature of memory—where traces of the past remain inscribed within the present—the presentation examines how art serves as a vessel for untangling complex narratives of colonialism, migration, contesting and suggesting new imagery to create counter-histories Through film, painting, and mixed media, and design, it considers the role of design in shaping collective memory and fostering new ways of engaging with history. Frank will also discuss his newly commissioned works for Making Home—Smithsonian Design Triennial, presently in the Carnegie Library exhibiting with the Black Artist and Designers Guild (BADG).

Billy Gérard Frank, born in Grenada, is an artist and filmmaker whose work explores race, memory, exile, global politics, and queer decoloniality. His mixed-media works and films challenge dominant narratives, using speculation to suggest counter-histories. He has exhibited at the Brooklyn Museum, Butler Institute of American Art, Yale, and Frieze London. Representing Grenada at the 2019 and 2022 Venice Biennale, he is a 2024 Creative Capital awardee. Frank co-founded the Nova Frontier Film Festival & Lab and lectures at Yale. He studied studio art in New York and earned an MA in Filmmaking and Media Arts from The New School.