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Meet the Collector: Marques Redd On Stewardship, Memory and Collecting Beyond Value

“This collection transcends a group of objects; it’s a record of devotion, sacrifice and belief in the necessity of Black art."

Established in Macon, Georgia, in 1990, Melgenia and Vernon Redd’s Miracles Art Gallery would go on to house one of the world’s most important collections of Black art. “By day, my parents worked as telecommunications engineers, immersed in blueprints, cables and network grids. By night and on weekends, they were building an institution,” artist Marques Redd tells Observer, meditating on his parents’ commitment to championing and preserving talent. “The collection has been foundational to my development as an artist. It formed the ground of my seeing long before I had language for what art could do.”

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Today, Marques is the collection’s custodian, along with his sister and fellow artist, Marquita Sams. Understandably, their artwork is steeped in the collection’s themes. “Growing up, I was surrounded not just by art, but by thoughtful, critical reflection on art,” Marques explains. “Particularly the idea that Black visual culture carried history, philosophy and spiritual instruction.”

With the gallery still in the planning stages, Melgenia and Vernon worked their day jobs while building an art collection from the ground up and taking artworks into the community. “They turned our attic into a framing studio, forged lasting........

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