Coming this Feb. to the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, When the Stars  Begin to Fall gathers 35  artists of different generations who share an interest in the American South as both a real and fabled place. Key to the exhibition is the relationship between contemporary art, black life, and “outsider” art, a historically fraught category typically encompassing artists who have not received formal art training and who may have been marginalized in society.

When the Stars Begin to Fall includes artworks by self-taught, spiritually inspired, and incarcerated artists alongside projects by prominent contemporary artists such as Kara Walker, Carrie Mae Weems, Kerry James Marshall, David Hammons, and Theaster Gates. It presents diverse artworks—from drawing and painting to performance, sculpture, and assemblage—unified by an insistent reference to place.

When the Stars Begin to Fall was curated by Thomas J. Lax for The Studio Museum in Harlem and organized for the ICA by Ruth Erickson, Assistant Curator. The exhibition is on view from February 4 through May 10, 2015.