Many of Terry Adkins’ (Washington, D.C., 1953 – New York, New York, 2014) works that reference music are silent, but imbued with a sense of the mysterious and the eternal. They seem that they might spring to life and begin to play on their own volition. Mounted on a musical stand, the tambourine, encircling heavy lace that suggests a mantilla or a wedding veil appears both mournful and celebratory at the same time. Tambour, although ghostly, carries the hope that someone might begin shaking that tambourineit leaves the viewer with an open sense of possibility. Adkins was known for his ability to transform found objects in a compelling way that let their history resonate poetically with the viewer. Adkins’ works incorporating musical instruments let the viewer reflect on how music is made and how it might sound emanating from his work. Tellingly, Adkins’ art installations were often called recitals, frequently centering on historical figures significant to the African American community, such as W. E. B. Du Bois, John Brown, and Sojourner Truth.