San Francisco, California Nov 29, 2019 (Issuewire.com) - The groundbreaking exhibition will highlight the tobacco industry’s history of targeting the Black community and will be held from Dec. 7, 2019, to Feb. 6, 2020 in the African American Center at the San Francisco Main Library.
This exhibition seeks to illustrate the history of the tobacco industry targeting the African American community with strategic ad placement, product distribution, event sponsorship, and divisive messaging.
The majority of the images are pulled from the Tobacco Control Archives of vintage advertisements and artifacts and are a keen example of the visual arts being used as a vehicle for teaching and social change. The exhibition begins with information about sacred tobacco and shows how the tobacco plant was taken away from its spiritual roots. We then explore the role that increased demand for tobacco played in the creation of the transatlantic slave trade and how tobacco advertising evolved once the African American community became a target market.
The opening reception for the event will be held from 2 p.m. - 3 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 7, 2019, at the Main Library located at 100 Larkin Street, San Francisco, CA. It will include a ceremonial tribute to the lives of ancestors lost as a result of the actions of the tobacco industry.
“It is my goal to ensure that the African American community is not left out of the conversation around how to address the use of flavored tobacco products, specifically menthol flavoring, to target children and other vulnerable populations.
Nicotine addiction products, including e-cigarettes, kill 45,000 African Americans every year which is more than gun violence or HIV. This exhibition allows me to use my talents as an artivist and a curator to help bring that number down to zero. I also work to show that the tactics and narratives being used by e-cigarette companies like blu and Juul are being taken directly from the Nicotine Addiction Industry playbook.” says Tracy Brown, Exhibition Curator.
For more information visit www.savingblacklives.org or contact Tracy Brown, Exhibition Curator, at 888.881.6619 x105 or tbrown@amplify.love.
About the AATCLC
Formed in 2008, the African American Tobacco Control Leadership Council (AATCLC) partners with community stakeholders, elected officials and public health agencies to inform the national direction of tobacco control policy, practices and priorities, as they affect the lives of Black-American and African immigrant populations. The AATCLC has been at the forefront in elevating the regulation of mentholated and other flavored tobacco products on the national tobacco control agenda.
Visit our website at www.savingblacklives.org.
Media Contact: Tracy Brown
Exhibition Curator & Project Manager - AATCLC
Phone: 888.881.6619 x 105 (o) (510) 557-2605 (m)
Email: tbrown@amplify.love - www.savingblacklives.org
Media Contact
The African American Tobacco Control Leadership Council tbrown@amplify.love 888.881.6619 x105 http://www.savingblacklives.org
