Not Your Momma's History
Cheyney McKnight
The Ancestor’s Future: An Afrofuturist’s Journey Through Time
May 1 – June 29, 2024
Opening Reception: Tuesday, April 30, 2024, 6 – 8 pm
New York, New York (April 10, 2024) The Dyckman Farmhouse Museum Alliance is pleased to present The Ancestor’s Future: An Afrofuturist’s Journey Through Time, artist and historian Cheyney McKnight’s first solo exhibition featuring her performance pieces, photographs, and clothing designs that are transformed into modern textiles while highlighting the Black experience in America with 18th and 19th-century silhouettes. The exhibition, exploring themes of community bonds, health, climate change, and adaptation, will be on view from May 1, 2024 – June 30, 2024, and is free and open to the public. An opening reception will be held on Tuesday, April 30, from 6 pm to 8 pm at The Dyckman Farmhouse Museum.
The Ancestor’s Future is a significant exploration of Black America’s past, viewed through the lens of Afrofuturism. McKnight’s work delves into a distant future while drawing on the past and present, illuminating the crucial role of Black bodies, health, and joy. McKnight’s creative practice, rooted in history, offers a fresh and enlightening understanding of our shared history and future.
From audio recordings to photography that juxtaposes Black America’s past with present-day imagery of Black culture and Afrofuturist imagery, the exhibition offers a fully immersive experience. A live performance piece will occur once a week at the Museum, providing a unique opportunity for visitors to engage directly with McKnight and her work at the Museum. This interactivity will allow visitors to experience and participate in different weekly conversations, fostering engagement and connection.
Cheyney McKnight is the founder and owner of Not Your Momma’s History. She advocates for interpreters of color at historical sites along the East Coast, providing them with much-needed on-call support. She uses clothing and primary sources to connect past and present events through performance art pieces. McKnight has taken her Let’s Talk About Slavery table to over 30 parks, historical sites, and public events across America to provide a safe place for people to learn and talk about the history of enslavement. Type your paragraph here.
McKnight graduated from Simmons University in 2011 with a Bachelor’s in Political Science. In 2021, McKnight became an African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund Fellow for the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Her project, titled The Ancestor’s Future: An Afrofuturist Journey Through History, was a piece of performance art and a conversation inspired by Afrofuturism about the future of historic preservation on former sites of enslavement. McKnight uses clothing designs that meld modern textiles that speak to the Black experience in America with 18th and 19th-century silhouettes.
Ancestor’s Future: An Afrofuturist’s Journey Through Time opens Wednesday, May 1, 2024, with an artist reception from 6 – 8 pm on Tuesday, April 30, 2024. For more information, please contact info@dyckmanfarmhouse.org or visit www.dyckmanfarmhouse.org.
About the Dyckman Farmhouse Museum Alliance
The mission of the Dyckman Farmhouse Museum Alliance (DFMA), the last farmhouse in Manhattan, is a vital cultural asset in New York City. The farmhouse on site was built in 1784 and later made into a museum by the Dyckman sisters Mary Alice and Fannie Fredericka in 1916, donating their family’s home to the City of New York as a museum. The house and the half-acre on which it sits serve as a reminder of the area’s rural past but did not acknowledge or address the experiences or contributions of the enslaved and Indigenous people who also lived and worked on-site.
Our mission, written and adopted by the Dyckman Farmhouse Museum Alliance Board of Trustees on April 29, 2011, is to support the preservation of the historic site, to be a catalyst for engaging, adventuresome programming, and to be a good neighbor and a dynamic resource for the community. Our mission-driven team believes strongly in acting as a gathering space and resource for the people of Inwood and the surrounding neighborhoods. The organization primarily executes its mission through free and low-cost programming for our community, where 25% of people live below the poverty line.
DFMA hosts site-specific art installations created by local artists, education programs for children, an annual fall festival, literacy programs, children’s workshops, and history lectures, partnering with peer institutions to hold additional arts and culture programs year-round.