Brooklyn Museum Will Retrace the People, Places and Objects That Have Fueled Spike Lee’s Prolific Career

The Brooklyn Museum is gearing up to host a major exhibition honoring the city’s fabled son, Spike Lee. Entitled Creative Sources, the forthcoming show will present a comprehensive survey into the filmmaker’s storied career through immersive installations that paint a portrait of the many people, places and over 300 objects that have inspired him along the way.

Drawing from both his personal collection, along with his many critically acclaimed films, the exhibition seeks to offer a “fresh perspective on a cultural icon,” according to curator Kimberli Gant. “By making Lee’s collection accessible to the public, this showcase celebrates his legacy while honoring his deep connection to Brooklyn, a place that has been an integral part of his storytelling.”

The show will be anchored around seven themes that have run concurrent throughout his life and work, such as Black history and culture, the city of Brooklyn, sports, music and the history of cinema, along with family and politics. Complementing the objects will be an array of works from prominent Black American artists, including Kehinde Wiley, Deborah Roberts and Michael Ray Charles.

Anthony Barboza/Getty Images

Whether through his Oscar-winning film, BlacKkKlansman, his equally cherished production, Do the Right Thing, or just hollering courtside at Madison Square Garden to cheer on his New York Knicks, Lee has never been afraid to speak his mind. Equal parts tension, drama, humor and satire, Lee’s productions reveal an uncanny ability to approach complex issues, such as the legacy of racism and systemic oppression, and re-present them in rich cinematic experiences that offer renewed reflection.

As a thread weaving in-and-out of each work is the core values of community and empathy within Lee’s oeuvre. “All of us, and humanity as a whole, have to learn to think about more than just ourselves,” Lee has previously said in an interview. “If the pandemic has shown us anything, it’s that we’ve got to support one another. We can’t go back to what we were doing in B.C., before corona, with great inequalities between the have and have-nots.”

Spike Lee: Creative Sources will open at the Brooklyn Museum on October 6 and run through February 4, 2024.

Also happening in October, Fondation Louis Vuitton will present a monumental retrospective exhibition on Mark Rothko.

Brooklyn Museum
200 Eastern Pkwy
Brooklyn, NY 11238