Following the tremendous success of “Warhol: Fabricated” this winter, the Abroms-Engel Institute for the Visual Arts (AEIVA) will be hosting three exhibitions this summer that tell powerful stories of race, heritage, human rights, and human dignity.

Spider Martin, Welcome to the Colored Section: Separate Not Equal, Selma, 1965, © Spider Martin“The Freedom Exhibition: Two Countries One Struggle” is presented by the City of Birmingham in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act. The exhibition juxtaposes the civil rights photography of Birmingham-native Spider Martin and South African Peter Magubane, and explores their respective images of American segregation and South African apartheid. Fifty photographs from each photographer are included in the exhibition.

This exhibition, sponsored by Mayor William A. Bell, Sr. and curated by Renee Kemp-Rotan of the Mayor’s Office of Special Projects, has been more than a year in the making. It highlights the ways in which photography can document, as well as interpret, the anti-racism movements and the resultant reconciliations in both the American South and South Africa. Four common themes are presented throughout this exhibition: Existing Conditions of Blacks in the 1950s, The Planning of The Movement, Confrontation, and Free at Last: Truth and Reconciliation.

Also showing this summer is “Willie Cole: Transformations,” which will showcase 15 works created by the noted American artist between 1996 and 2015. Featuring items as varied as shoes, irons, bicycles, and water bottles, Cole’s work alludes to social, cultural, political, and spiritual issues as seen through the lens of the artist’s own African-American culture, heritage and history. It is curated by AEIVA Director Lisa Tamiris Becker.

The final show is “Focus I: Identified,” the first in a new series of exhibits AEIVA will be hosting under the “Focus” title. “Focus I: Identified” features selected works from the collection of Jim Sokol and Lydia Cheney and is curated by John Fields.

All three shows open on June 5 but close on different days. “The Freedom Exhibition” and “Willie Cole: Transformations” will end on August 8. Focus I: Identified will close on July 25.

AEIVA is located at 1221 10th Ave. South and admission is always free. AEIVA is open to the public 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday-Friday and 12-6 p.m. Saturday and is closed Sundays and holidays. Call 205-975-6436 or visit AEIVA online.

Willie Cole, Red Spirit Light, 2013; plastic bottles, galvanized steel and cellophane; 75 1/2 x 72 in diameter/192 x 183 cm diameter; photo: Joerg Lohse. Image courtesy Alexander and Bonin, New York