Exhibit of New Paintings by Jourdan Truth McGowan Opens at BPL

Jourdan Truth McGowan, Time - Stop the Violence BHAM

BPL’s first exhibition of 2025 has just opened in the Fourth Floor Gallery at the Central Library. Issues is a series of new canvases by local artist Jourdan Truth McGowan. The featured paintings are reinterpretations of iconic magazine covers, in which McGowan makes bold commentaries on culture, politics, religion, and other topics. Issues will be on display through Friday, April 18.    

A reception honoring McGowan will take place this Saturday, January 18, from 3:00 to 5:00 in the Fourth Floor Gallery. The reception will also honor potter Larry Allen, whose exhibition Vessels of Possibility is currently on view in the Lobby Gallery. This is the perfect occasion to meet and speak to Allen and McGowan about their creative output. It is free and open to the public, as are all BPL’s art shows.

The paintings showcased in Issues invite viewers to engage in meaningful reflection and dialogue on the pressing challenges of our time. McGowan describes his piece Time – Stop the Violence BHAM (pictured above)… 

“In this painting, I sought to bring attention to the ongoing, senseless violence that has plagued our city for far too long. At its center is a young boy kneeling under a lone streetlight in downtown Birmingham, his small frame illuminated as he prays for peace. Bullet casings cascade beside him, while the graffiti-covered wall behind tells a darker story, [as it is] riddled with bullet holes. […] the blood-stained sidewalk […] is half-covered by a newspaper reporting yet another mass shooting in the city. Another piece of graffiti reads ‘black on black crime,’ though it has been smeared and is barely legible now, a painful reminder of the harsh realities the city has faced. Amidst this chaos, the boy remains calm in prayer […]. He is a symbol of hope and resilience […] even in the face of such overwhelming violence.”

Jourdan Truth McGowan is a full-time artist from Enterprise, Alabama. He has made Birmingham his home for the past eight years. Driven by a passion for both sports and art, Jourdan’s journey has been one of transformation and courage. Growing up in a sports-focused environment, Jourdan eventually found himself drawn to a deeper calling – the world of art. This realization led him to change his major to art while attending Stillman College. He completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts at The University of Alabama in 2017.

According to McGowan, he brings his own experiences and cultural heritage into every brushstroke of his paintings, telling stories that are both inspirational and deeply human. His art speaks to people of all backgrounds, transcending barriers to connect on a universal level. Today, McGowan is the proud owner of The heART Gallery in Enterprise, Alabama, where he curates rotating exhibitions and maintains a permanent collection of his own work.

McGowan’s artwork has been featured in shows at the Sarah Moody Gallery of Art and the Ferguson Center at the University of Alabama, the Grand Bohemian Gallery in Mountain Brook, and the Botanical Gardens Library Gallery in Birmingham. His work has been included in numerous other shows and at venues across the state. To learn more about McGowan and his art, please visit his website at http://www.artoftruth.guru.

This exhibition, which is part of BPL’s Art for Everyone series, is made possible by a grant awarded to the Friends Foundation of BPL by the Alabama State Council on the Arts.

Jourdan Truth McGowan, Women's Health - Perfection

By Margaret Splane, Library Assistant III