Milford Graves: A Mind-Body Deal

February 27–April 27, 2024

This nationally touring exhibition gathers the many-layered and multifaceted work of Milford Graves and explores the practices and predilections of an extraordinary jazz innovator. Usdan Gallery presents A Mind-Body Deal as specific to the Bennington context, where Graves, a longtime professor, inspired generations of students. The exhibition includes a collection of Graves’s hand-painted album covers and posters, idiosyncratic drum sets, multimedia sculptures, photographs, and costumes, with elements from his home, scientific studies, recording ephemera, and archival recordings. Events and performances centering music, movement, healing, and film further explore and celebrate his legacy. (Image, detail of Milford Graves collage from 1977, courtesy of the artist’s estate.)