Feelings, who died Aug. 25 at age 70, was a retired art department faculty member who taught at USC from 1988 to 1996. He was a nationally known artist and book illustrator whose images captured the African-American experience.

The exhibit at McKissick features photographs from The Middle Passage. Released in October 1995, the book was Feelings' first adult book and features 50 powerful and dramatic images.

Using black-and-white illustrations with cool blue and warm brown tones, Feelings blended abstract and realistic images in The Middle Passage, which make the viewer feel as if they are aboard a slave trading ship. The illustrations evoke the feeling of the suffering and desperation felt by the captive people who were force-fed, beaten, and chained in small, cramped spaces in the hulls of ships.

"I want my illustrations to reach people on a personal level—drawing them into the story and allowing them to feel the pain of the slaves and learn what happened to us on the ships," Feelings said in a USC interview in 1995.

The Middle Passage is not only Feelings' personal odyssey; it is his legacy. Feelings said that creating the work was time intensive, as he reworked each illustration five or six times until he created just the right mood.

For more than 25 years, Feelings created award-winning books for children and young adults. Among his 20 books is the Swahili counting book, Moja Means One. Others include Jambo Means Hello, Something on My Mind, Daydreamers, Now Sheba Sings the Song, and Soul Looks Back in Wonder. His honors include two Coretta Scott King Awards by the American Library Association and two Caldecott awards.

I See Your Face, a collaboration between Feelings and USC English professor Kwame Dawes, will be released next year.

Although his children's books included poetry and narrative by writers such as Julius Lester, Maya Angelou, Langston Hughes, and Niki Grimes, Feelings' The Middle Passage did not. He said he wanted the book "to be an emotional journey interpreted differently by each reader—I didn't want them to be inhibited by the written word."

Feelings added, "It is my hope that the book will prompt family and community discussion."

McKissick Museum exhibitions are free and open to the public. The museum is open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday; 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday; and 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday.

For more information, call McKissick Museum at 7-7251 or visit www.cla.sc.edu/MCKS. For more information about Feelings and The Middle Passage, visit www.tomfeelings.com.

09/03