Photo by: (Left): Venus Williams by Marc Piasecki/WireImage. (Middle): Adam Pendelton by Taylor Hill/WireImage. (Right): Nina Simone by Jack Robinson/Getty Images.
We love to see it!
Next month, a charity art auction will be held by renowned tennis player Venus Williams and artist Adam Pendleton to collect money to preserve the late Nina Simone’s childhood house!
“Each of the artists Adam and I have selected for the auction has a unique, powerful voice, and we’ve been moved by their generosity and enthusiasm for this important cause,” Williams stated. “It’s been a privilege to collaborate with Adam in curating the auction.”
The exhibition, which included pieces by Stanley Whitney, Mary Weatherford, Robert Longo, and Cecily Brown, is being curated by Williams and Pendleton. The physical exhibition will run from May 12 through May 20, 2023, at Pace Gallery in New York. Online bidding will start on Sotheby’s at 11:00 EDT and end at 15:00 EDT on May 22, 2023.
“Nina Simone is one of the most important musical artists of the twentieth century,” Pendleton said during an interview with Hyperallergic. “I’m inspired to be able to protect her legacy by preserving her childhood home. Her music, her vision, cannot be forgotten.”
Born Eunice Waymon in 1933, was raised in a three-bedroom clapboard house in Tryon, North Carolina during the midst of the Great Depression and the segregated Jim Crow era.
Source: Getty Images / Getty
During her time spent in this home, the Blues singer grew into her musical talents from the tender age of five.
After being vacant for a while, Simone’s family home was eventually in danger of being demolished. In 2017, Pendleton, along with other artists Ellen Gallagher, Rashid Johnson, and Julie Mehretul, bought the house for $95,000.
The proceeds from the auction will be used to protect the historic home’s status as a location of African American history.
To protect and restore the building for future generations, the National Trust is collaborating with the Nina Simone Project, World Monuments Fund, and North Carolina African American Heritage Council, also making this preservation efforts the largest for African American historic site.
Shout out to Venus, Adam, and the other artists to help preserve Nina Simone’s childhood home!
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