A partnership between St. Catherine University and Memorialize The Movement.
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Utilizing two distinct spaces on the St. Catherine University campus—the Catherine G. Murphy art gallery and The Frey Theater (a black box theater)—as storytelling devices to share the living history of the murals in the collection. The curatorial statement goes as follows:
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We curated Night and Day with the understanding that memory is political, and murals are a form of storytelling that resists erasure. These artworks—created in the immediate aftermath of George Floyd’s murder—document a movement that carried profound emotional depth. They emerged in moments of chaos and clarity, grief and love, trauma and triumph. Each mural carries the urgency of the moment it was created in, while also offering us a map of what community care and resistance can look like.
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As curators, we were intentional about highlighting the breadth of experiences across the uprising—from bold demands for justice to tender affirmations of Black life. The themes of night and day represent the duality of this movement: how it unfolded in darkness and in light, and how people came together to create something lasting in the face of overwhelming loss.
As you move through the three exhibit spaces, we invite you to reflect on the following interconnected themes:
Darkness and light, not as binaries, but as coexistences—reminding us that grief and joy, rage and hope, all live side by side.
Mutual aid and community care, as survival strategies in the face of state neglect—how people fed, healed, and held each other when systems failed us.
Relationships and rootedness, using the metaphor of tending the land—plowing, sowing, growing—as a framework for how communities cultivate trust, build power, and deepen resilience over time.
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Night and Day is not just about what happened in the streets—it’s about how we responded, how we remembered, and how we continue to move. We invite you to witness the creativity and courage that rose from the asphalt, and to honor the people who made space for each other when there was none.
— Amira McLendon, Collections Manager and Leesa Kelly, Executive Director and Founder, Memorialize The Movement
The Frey Theater: Grief and Joy, Rage and Hope
The murals and archival materials preserved in the “Night" part of the exhibition remind us that grief and joy, and rage and hope, are not opposites, but companions in the context of movements. They coexist in our lives, shaping how we heal, resist, and imagine new possibilities. In the aftermath of violence and loss, grief becomes an act of remembrance, while joy testifies that our people have always created beauty in the face of hardship. Rage fuels the refusal to accept injustice, and hope makes that refusal sustainable by pointing toward a future worth fighting for. Holding these emotions together, without forcing resolution, shows us the depth of Black resilience and transformation.
The Catherine G. Murphy Gallery – West Wing: Mutual Aid and Community Care
When formal systems fail or when they actively cause harm, our communities create their own networks of care and survival. Mutual aid is not charity; it is the collective recognition that our well-being is tied together, that care is a shared responsibility rather than a transaction. The art and stories in the west gallery reflect those survival strategies: neighbors feeding each other, healers tending to bodies and spirits, organizers redistributing resources so no one is left behind. These practices are not temporary fixes but radical traditions, proving that care is both a political stance and a cultural inheritance. They remind us that even in times of crisis, we have the power to sustain one another.
The Catherine G. Murphy Gallery – East Wing: Relationships and Rootedness
Movements are like gardens: they require patience, tending, and the collective labor of many hands. Our relationships—between people, across generations, and with the land itself—are what anchor us in the face of instability. Rootedness is not only about place but also about memory, about knowing the histories that nourish us while we refuse to be uprooted by violence or neglect. The works in the east gallery reflect how trust is built, how kinship grows, and how communities ground themselves in their own stories. These roots are both anchors and sources of nourishment, allowing movements to endure and regenerate, even as the seasons change. As you move through the east gallery, consider how the depictions of people and plants, flowers and roots inform this theme of rootedness and interconnectedness.
Tour these virtual renderings of the exhibition!
Here are some instructions!
To allow the exhibition to as accessible as possible, we hope this virtual exhibition will allow you to experience our work from the anywhere in the world. Highly recommend that the tours are viewed in full screen for the best experience.
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As you view the tour, please view these resources while doing so. The exhibition booklet will offer clear labels for the artwork that may not be as easy to view in the tour itself or offer insight from the curators and artists. The educator and visitor guide may offer insight for classrooms or individuals that want to critically engage with the exhibition. As you view the exhibitions, also listen to the carefully curated playlists for Night & Day. When you view the Night section in particular, please be sure to watch this video. The 3D rendering captures the exhibition in photographs, so you will need to view the accompanying media separately. Watch the video and listen the Night playlist together.