The San Bernardino County Museum is pleased to present a new exhibit, Contradictions – Bringing the Past Forward by artist Barbara Gothard, from February 8 through Apr. 21, 2022. The exhibit is a research-based multimedia arts and humanities project consisting of mixed media installation works, and explores the plight of early 20th century African-American homesteaders in the Mojave Desert. The series focuses on the Homesteaders’ stories and the contradictions of Gothard’s own desert-lived experience. While searching for information on a different topic, Gothard discovered a Daily Bulletin article by journalist Joe Blackstock, by chance also a county museum volunteer, about African-American Homesteaders which included an ad from the 1910 Los Angeles Herald. In response to this 1910 newspaper ad specifically recruiting “colored” homesteaders, 23 families became western settlers in far eastern San Bernardino County. This article became the impetus for Gothard’s project, Contradictions – Bringing the Past Forward. Note: The original opening January date as listed in the press release was delayed due to Covid restrictions.