Terence Hammonds: Soul is a Ham Hock in Your Cornflakes 

November 20, 2026–March 28, 2027

Vance Waddell and Mayerson Galleries (Galleries 124 and 125)
Free Admission

With a title plucked from Funkadelic’s 1970 song What is Soul?, this exhibition featuring the work of Cincinnati-based artist Terence Hammonds throws a proverbial ham hock into the museum’s bowl of cornflakes. As the song’s vivid lyrics suggest, power and meaning often emerge from unlikely combinations, and “nothing is quite good until you play with it.” Pairing historical objects from the museum’s collections with his newly created printed ceramics, wallpaper, and textiles, Hammonds constructs unexpected vignettes that speak to Black history, resilience, and cultural imagination. “By juxtaposing these objects, I aim to create a form of historical fiction—a speculative ‘what if’,” Hammonds explains. “Through pattern, narrative, and material culture, [the exhibition] imagines how the visual language of domestic heirlooms might look if shaped by the histories, stories, and aspirations of Cincinnati’s Black middle class.” 

Accessing the Exhibition

This exhibition is presented in Galleries 125 and 124, located on the museum’s first floor directly across from the Terrace Café. Seating is available nearby in Gallery 126. Large print label booklets are available in Gallery 125 and online. Audio of select exhibition interpretation is available online and on the Bloomberg Connects app. For fidgets, social narratives, sensory headphones, and other tools, visit our CAM Access Cart. The Access Cart is located in the Schmidlapp Gallery (Gallery 151) just beyond the museum’s front lobby.