The Gallery of Revolution presents
From the Body to Collective Experience
The Artistry of STERLING TOLES
From the Body of Collective Experience is an installation from his solo exhibition “s(h)elves?” which uses community-based activation, found objects, original music, and image-based works to explore the connection between matter and spirit as constituent parts of identity construction. s(h)elves? questions the degree to which we define who we are by trauma and limiting beliefs held by containers of selfhood and the impact of our reluctance to change what rests on these shelves of identity.
Brief Biography
Sterling Toles is a sound and visual artist that emerged from Detroit's hip-hop scene. He was educated completely in Detroit's Cass Corridor before attending the College for Creative Studies where he received a BFA in Illustration. Seeing the creative process as the seed of collective healing, his personal creativity has led him to create media projects with youth through Detroit Summer, Living Arts Detroit, and the Rosa Parks Youth Program. He is the producer of the critically-acclaimed Boldy James album Manger on McNichols, Stereogum's 2020 Rap Album of The Year. He has scored short films and documentaries including Our School and Brewster Douglass: You're My Brother. In 2022, he completed his first solo art exhibition at The Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit. His work is a means to undo conditioning to allow the purest reception of spirit. Sterling Toles is a 2016 Kresge Fellow.