Dear Mazie, is an exhibition inspired by the life and work of Amaza Lee Meredith (1895–1984), the first known Black queer woman to practice as an architect in the United States. For the exhibition, the Institute for Contemporary Art at Virginia Commonwealth University (ICA at VCU) commissioned eleven contemporary artists, architects, and designers to create responses to Meredith’s multifaceted legacy, plotting her life and work within themes of placemaking, gender, sexuality, and Black love, while also exploring her impact in public education, the arts, and architecture.

Denied formal architecture training due to her race and gender, Meredith nevertheless went on to design landmark structures in her home state of Virginia, New York, and Texas, and to found the fine arts department at the historically Black college Virginia State University. Her contributions paved the way for Black Americans to see themselves in environments where they were so often prohibited.

Inspired by Meredith’s archives, in particular her prodigious and passionate letter-writing, each artist was invited to consider the epistolary form as a conceptual framework for their commissions, which span various media including sculpture, video, painting, installation, and performance. Dear Mazie, thus functions like an exhibition-as-letter, addressed back to the subject at its heart.

Dear Mazie,  includes contributions by AD—WO (Emanuel Admassu and Jen Wood), The Black School (Shani Peters and Joseph Cuillier), Lukaza Branfman-Verissimo, Kapwani Kiwanga, Abigail Lucien, Practise (James Goggin and Shan James), Tschabalala Self, and Cauleen Smith.

Dear Mazie, is organized by the Institute for Contemporary Art at Virginia Commonwealth University, and curated by Amber Esseiva, Acting Senior Curator, ICA at VCU.