Gallery Exhibit: “Initiations” (Curator: Paula Damasceno)

 

Curator’s Statement:  “There is a thing passing in the sky; some thick clouds surround it; the uninitiated sees nothing” – A proverb from Mende people found in Bell Hooks Art in My Mind citing Radiance from the Waters – Ideals of Feminine Beauty in Mende Art by Sylvia Ardyn Boone. Initiations showcases the works of six artists who engage with a variety of photographic formats and audiovisual works offering a visual dialogue that initiates the audience to each artist’s aesthetic language. The artworks will be installed in a design that suggests a nontraditional choreography for the audience to perform while engaging with the art. The entanglement of still photographs, projection of film and audio pieces will interact to activate one another, creating a world of voices and visualities and creating a visual texture that eludes purity. Rather, the exhibition is a confluence of aesthetic ideas from artists of our time in dialogue with each other and with the broader audience. The artists in the group exhibit include: Jasmine Clark, Ibrahim Ahmad, Nyugen E. Smith, Andres Hernandez, Adrienne Jacob Oliver, and Letícia Clementina.