Before she passed away in 2014, Sherry Z. Sanabria had a studio at Alexandria's Torpedo Factory Arts Center. The Sanabria family has made it their mission to find homes for her paintings where they will be appreciated and preserved. They generously donated 23 of her African American historic site paintings to the Museum.

These paintings were part of her Sites of Conscience series, which focused on African American heritage, as well as prisons, concentration camps, and mental health hospitals. The paintings transport viewers to places of horror, places of pain and suffering, places we want to forget, but never should. Fearing that these structures may be lost from the landscape, Sanabria sought to capture the spirit of the places and the people who inhabited them.

The paintings can now be viewed at Historic Alexandria Collections Online.

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Before the Spirits are Swept Away: African American Historic Site Paintings by Sherry Z. Sanabria 

I am drawn to the walls and spaces… [of buildings]… by the magic of light, the organization of architectural elements, and the perception that these spaces are filled with and colored by the spiritual remnants of the lives lived in them. 

– Sherry Z. Sanabria (1938-2014)

An exhibition at the Alexandria Black History Museum features some of Sherry Sanabria’s African American historic site paintings. Through the paintings, the exhibition explores slavery, interpretation, and preservation of African American sites in America.

Robert Sanabria, Sherry’s husband, feels this series 

… demonstrates the widespread practice of bondage in the American South and the determination of the enslaved to survive and maintain their connection with their creator. It is especially fortuitous to have these works together where they will be valued and available for the appreciation of generations to come…

The Staff of the Alexandria Black History Museum are honored to be custodians of this beautiful series of paintings.