Future Art(ifacts): “What She Opened” by Jackie Reeves

In honor of Juneteenth, local artist Jackie Reeves presents her installation What She Opened, an homage to educator, activist, and “Grandmother of Juneteeth”, Dr. Opal Lee.

Sometimes referred to as the nation’s second independence day, Juneteenth recognizes June 19, 1865 when Union troops arrived in Galveston Bay, Texas announcing that the more than 250,000 enslaved black people in the state were free. However, it was not until June 17, 2021, after decades long efforts led by Lee, that President Joe Biden signed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act bill that finally established June 19th as a federal holiday. This temporary art piece celebrates a once underrepresented but crucial moment in American history. 

The Future Art(ifacts) Series:

An artifact is “an object made or modified by a human being, typically one of cultural or historical interest”. Artifacts mark important cultural and artistic expressions throughout human history, tracing our societal values as they have changed through time. They are often found buried deep underground, dusted off, and encased in glass or hung on the wall of a museum, separated by time and space by the people who made them, leaving viewers to reckon with their meaning. The Future Art(ifacts) Series, aims to connect the public with artists, creators, and thinkers making the same kind of significant contributions to culture in real time through a series of free workshops, events, and temporary installations held at the Provincetown Art Association and Museum during Free Friday events.

Jackie Reeves:

Jackie Reeves is a Cape Cod based multidisciplinary artist working across drawing, installation, animation, and mixed media. She holds an MFA from Massart and approaches the figure as a site of experimentation~ layered, fragmented, erased, and rebuilt. Her process embraces risk, improvisation, and the visible history of mark-making, often incorporating collage, unconventional materials, and gestural abstraction. Reeves was honored as 2026 Artist of the Year by the Arts Foundation of Cape Cod and is the creator of award-winning animated films that merge art, poetry, and music. Her teaching invites artists to move beyond perfection and into discovery, courage, and expressive freedom.

Her exhibition at PAAM, Larger than Life ~ Drawings in Time, is on view through July 19.

Image: Jackie Reeves, Cloud Hopper, 2025, Acrylic and chalk on canvas, 65”x53