Inside LACMA, an artistic look into science and hidden histories

[Strachan, from E1] North Pole to understand the harsh conditions that in 1909 greeted Matthew Henson — the Black explorer who accompanied Cmdr. Robert Peary on polar expeditions and was likely the first human to stand on top of the world. His feat went unacknowledged for years because he was Black.

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STRACHAN’S first museum show in Los Angeles is a multisensory experience exploring untold stories.

In another project, Strachan honored America's first Black astronaut, Robert Henry Lawrence Jr. He died in a plane crash while training a test pilot in 1968 before he could take part in any space mission. So Strachan sent a replica of an artwork inspired by Lawrence into orbit on a SpaceX rocket.

Now a collection of Strachan's work titled "The Day Tomorrow Began" is on view at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art for his first museum show in the city.

The multisensory exhibition showcases Strachan's ability to translate his lifelong passion for scientific inquiry and boundary-pushing adventures into pieces that make you question everything you thought you understood about human progress — all while forcing you to see how Black achievements so easily get written out of the history books.

"The pieces of this particular exhibition that I think may hit people are when they start making connections on their own — the synapses start to fire," the 45-year-old artist said during a recent tour of his show. "You start to tie in, for example, the relationships between this polar explorer Matthew Henson and Robert Henry Lawrence. And then you start to think about the earlier explorers who left the African continent and this pioneering spirit that is a part of what it means to be African that is oftentimes not articulated or discussed."

On view until March 29, "The Day Tomorrow Began" is both whimsical and serious. There is a lot to take in: illustrations and diagrams, displays of traditional African hairstyles, mohair collages made jointly with South African weavers, commemorative ceramics, a field of rice grass whose strawlike scent is meant to pique olfactory memories.