The Forge Presents Shabazz Larkin: The Flowers Have Something to Teach Us
The Forge is proud to present Shabazz Larkin: The Flowers Have Something to Teach Us, opening with a public reception on May 1st from 6pm to 9pm, and continuing through May 25th, 2025. This immersive exhibition by Nashville-based artist Shabazz Larkin invites audiences to confront the fragile, fleeting nature of beauty, violence, and fear. Through a deeply personal and ephemeral exploration, Larkin draws parallels between the transience of flowers and the impermanence of the fears that hold us captive—suggesting that in order to transcend them, we must face them, call them by name until their power fades.
Larkin’s exhibition brings together sculptural works, paintings, an installation of over 100 intimate drawings, and an interactive gallery experience. Flowers in Larkin’s world are not just symbols of beauty and growth but also harbingers of impermanence. Like life itself, they bloom, wither, and transform. They are as fragile and fleeting as the fears that plague us. But flowers also possess a quiet power—the kind that grows through vulnerability, confronting what scares us long enough to nullify its threat.
The exhibition features a series of “Deamon Paintings,” surreal and unsettling figures that embody uncomfortable, often dark thoughts—thoughts that, when faced and understood, lose their power. These works speak to the necessity of confronting the unsettling and the unknown, of staring down what we fear most, so that it loses its grip on us. Through this process, Larkin reveals how beauty and discomfort, strength and fragility, can exist in a fragile balance.
The sculptural works further explore the relationship between fragility, inner and outer harm. Wooden figures, adorned with roofing nails each painted with small flowers, twists the familiar imagery of defense and aggression into something unexpectedly delicate. The act of hammering these nails into the wood becomes a meditation, turning the creations into destruction, and vice versa. Through these objects, Larkin asks viewers to consider: What happens when we confront change, inner harm or outer harm with beauty? Or when something precious is threatened by something violent?
The Flowers Have Something to Teach Us challenges viewers to reflect on the nature of impermanence—not only in the natural world, but in our own lives. It’s an invitation to sit with the transient, to embrace the fragility of beauty and fear, and to confront that which is fleeting until it loses its power over us. Love, loss, beauty, anger, tenderness, danger, and empowerment all interweave to create an experience that is as much about reflection as it is about release.
Shabazz Larkin is a multifaceted artist, poet, sculptor, and mindfulness ambassador based in Nashville, TN. Originally from Norfolk, Virginia, his work celebrates Black culture and explores themes of justice, history, and spirituality through vibrant figures, portraits, and monuments. Shabazz is also the founder of The Museum of Presence, a unique platform spotlighting mindfulness and creativity through BIPOC-led podcasts, newspapers, and events.
In his own words: "My themes circle around the volatility of the human heart and the profound truth of impermanence. Everything we cling to—names, roles, identities, even memory—will slip away. And in that slipping, there is something sacred. There is beauty in the groundlessness. My work is not here to preserve the illusion of solidity. It is here to show us how to let go."
For more information, images, or to inquire about pricing and availability, please contact Alyssa Beach at alyssa@theforgenashville.org. Thank you and see you at the show!
Shabazz Larkin: The Flowers Have Something to Teach Us
Opening: Thursday, May 1st 6pm to 9pm
Exhibition Run: May 1st - May 25th
The Forge Nashville 217 Willow St Nashville TN 37210
Disclaimer - Explicit Content: This exhibition is graphic in nature and grapples with mature content.