Essex Hemphill: Take care of your blessings

Exploring the interdisciplinary relationship between the writings of the queer, Black poet and activist Essex Hemphill and contemporary visual art

Accompanying the eponymous exhibition at the Phillips Collection in Washington, DC, Essex Hemphill: Take care of your blessings explores the interdisciplinary relationship between Hemphill's writing—raw, politically charged and deeply personal—and contemporary visual art.

Titled after Hemphill's personal signature, Take care of your blessings traces his relationships with and influences on visual artists who, like Hemphill, created genre-defying works that explore race, culture, community, gender, sexuality and the experience of living with and losing loved ones to HIV/AIDS.

This publication features ephemera, photographs and archival materials alongside personal reflections from Hemphill's friends and collaborators and essays that trace the dynamic poet's life, work and impact on a generation of artists.

Raised in Washington, DC, Essex Hemphill (1957–95) was a poet, performer, editor and activist who emerged as a luminary in the DC arts scene in the 1980s and 1990s. His poetry challenged societal norms and bridged the worlds of literature and visual art. While Hemphill died of AIDS-related illness at just 38, his work persists, reflected in visual dialogues with his contemporaries and inheritors.

Paperback: 112 pages

Published: July 1, 2025