Vicki Meek

I know upon whose shoulders I stand. I am not confused. 

Talley Dunn Gallery
November 16, 2024 – January 18, 2025

When I first thought of this exhibition back in the beginning of the year, I had a totally different idea about what I wanted to explore. But halfway into my musings on this exhibition, I realized that I needed to do something that was rooted in my historical exploration of black spirituality and women’s empowerment. Little did I know that this topic would be so timely given where we are in this country at this moment. I know upon whose shoulders I stand honors seven Orishas who embody female empowerment and seven female ancestors who have influenced my own empowerment, including my own mother.

The notion that any empowered woman can reach her full potential without the aid of other women has always seemed ludicrous to me. I would not be who I am today were it not for the influence of dynamic, intelligent and powerful women. I am not confused about this fact! In addition, I know that my power is also dependent on the spiritual guidance of my ancestors, an energy that I routinely tap into. By acknowledging these seven female Orishas and the power they wield in the spirit realm, and by extension, the temporal world, I pay tribute to the female energy that has bolstered me throughout my life’s journey. The seven ancestors I honor, Harriet Tubman, Ida B. Wells, Ella Baker, Fannie Lou Hamer, Toni Morrison, Elizabeth Catlett and my mother Sylvia Meek represent the major influences on both my activist and artistic development.

As is true of all my work, the choice of media and imagery are symbolic.

-Vicki Meek, 2024

Vicki Meek, born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is a nationally recognized artist who has exhibited widely. Meek is in the permanent collections of the African American Museum in Dallas, The Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, Fort Wayne Museum of Art in Indiana, Paul Quinn College in Dallas, Serie Art Project in Austin and Norwalk Community College in Norwalk, Connecticut. She was awarded three public arts commissions with the Dallas Area Rapid Transit Art Program and was co-artist on the largest public art project in Dallas, the Dallas Convention Center Public Art Project.

Meek was selected as one of ten national artists to celebrate the 10th Anniversary of the Nasher Sculpture Center with the commissioning of a site-specific installation. Meek’s retrospective Vicki Meek: 3 Decades of Social Commentary opened in November 2019 at Houston Museum of African American Culture and marked the end of her concentrating solely on her installation practice.

Vicki Meek has been awarded a number of grants and honors including National Endowment for the Arts NFRIG Grant, Dallas Observer MasterMind Award, Dallas Museum of Art Otis and Velma Davis Dozier Travel Grant, Texas Black Filmmakers Mission Award, Women of Visionary Influence Mentor Award, Dallas Women’s Foundation Maura Award, nominated for the Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Award, the African American Museum at Dallas A. Maceo Smith Award for Cultural Achievement, the 2021 Texas Artist of the Year by Art League of Houston and the Meadows School of the Arts Moss/Chumbley Award for artistic excellence.

In addition to having a studio practice, Vicki Meek is an independent curator and writes cultural criticism for Dallas Weekly with her blog Art & Racenotes (http://artracenotes.blogspot.com) and also wrote a monthly column, ARTiculate for TheaterJones, an online performing arts magazine.

Meek was an adjunct faculty member for UMass Arts Extension Program in Amherst, Massachusetts where she taught a course in Cultural Equity in the Arts. With over 40+ years of arts administrative experience that includes working as a senior program administrator for a state arts agency, a local arts agency and running a non-profit visual arts center, after 20 years, Vicki Meek retired in March 2016 as the Manager of the South Dallas Cultural Center in Dallas. She served on the board of National Performance Network/Visual Artists Network 2008-15 and was Chair from 2012-2014. In 2016, Meek was selected to be a Fellow in the Intercultural Leadership Institute and also became a Voting Member of Alternate Roots, a national artist service organization.

Vicki Meek currently spends time as Chief Operating Officer for USEKLA: Center for Creative Investigation, a retreat for creatives in Costa Rica founded by internationally acclaimed performance artist Elia Arce. She is also Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson’s at-large appointment to the Arts and Culture Commission and the Public Art Committee. In 2022, Vicki Meek became the inaugural Fellow for Nasher Sculpture Center where her first project received a NEA Our Town $100,000 grant. Meek is represented by Talley Dunn Gallery in Dallas, Texas.