The lettering in Living Legacies: Art of the African American South has some give. It stretches and compresses as it moves through the exhibition, catalogue, and collateral, like a length of fabric being worked into different shapes. The letterforms began with type samples from W.E.B. Du Bois’ infographics; their proportions became something we could pull on.

The exhibition places historical and contemporary work by Black artists across the South in proximity, from traditional textiles to abstract sculpture. Across that range, the type behaves like a seam. It makes a connection and leaves evidence of the joining. The work on either side keeps its own shape.

A seam is also a place where tension gathers. Pull the material here and something happens over there; the surface can pucker, stretch, fold back on itself. Turn a piece of cloth over and the construction is often more visible.