Everything Is Connected

On our final episode of the season, Renee Cox shares some of her thoughts on Black life in America, discovering racism for the first time as a young artist, and validating oneself as a radical act of self-love in an oppressive capitalist society. 

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Layo is a Nigerian artist mainly in the 3D space with sculptures that lend themselves to tell the story of her identity and cultural heritage as a West African woman born and raised in Lagos Nigeria. She currently lives and works in New York City. Bright completed her MFA at Parsons in 2018 with honors. In her newer works, she continues exploring themes of the self through portraiture using glass, clay, and traditional textiles to tell her story. 

www.layobright.com

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Cydne Jasmin Coleby, the Bahamian born artist who studied graphic design in her formative years at the University of the Bahamas,  takes a mixed media approach to her works that deal with breaking new ground and achieving personal triumph in spite of trauma and loss. Using rich personal experiences as a backdrop for her creativity, Coleby fuses traditional Bahamian textiles with her skills in graphic design to create intricate collages deeply rooted in storytelling. 

In her own words she describes her work in more depth. 

"Self-reflection is an intrinsic aspect to my art practice. Through my graphic collages I examine personal and collective/ancestral relationships to trauma and conditioning. It’s hard to distinguish between which experiences inform rather than define our identity. My work aims to explore this grey area, while questioning our ability for healing, and to cultivate our individual and collective narratives, through these events.”

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Lucia Hierro is a New York based multimedia artist exploring themes of culture and class as seen through the lens of her eyes as a self-proclaimed Domninican New Yorker. The Yale MFA graduate creates distinct pieces using digital media, collage, painting, and installation to realize her life-sized works.through pop-at and notions of identity politics her work shows an understanding of the ways in which american consumerism and labor impact our everyday lives. From the years she spent growing up in New York’s Washington Heights to her time spent at Yale university, Hierro shares some of the intimate moments that led her towards a career in the arts and ultimately to her distinctive practice. 

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I sat down with Mikhaile Solomon, the founder of Prizm Art Fair to learn more about how and why she started the Black-led fair which amplifies the work of Black artists working throughout the world. In this episode, recorded just a few weeks before Art Basel in Miami during the COVID pandemic we talked about her passions and why it’s so important that people - Black people especially - take agency over the narratives that shape perception and understanding of their cultural experiences. 

Prizm is pleased to present a dynamic fair with layered programming that is sure to capture the eyes and minds of our attendees. With over 30 emerging and established galleries and artists offering their varied Diasporic narratives and perspectives, riveting conversations lead by new and established thought leaders in Diasporic Visual arts practice, and cutting-edge events and installations that offer sensory delight. 

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In an intimate conversation Delphine Diallo shared how she’s been developing her creative process through the COVID pandemic, why decolonizing the mind of western patriarchy is so important, and how her art seeks to create a new archetype for the Black woman. 

Delphine Diallo is a Brooklyn-based French and Senegalese visual artist and photographer. Diallo immerses herself in the realm of anthropology, mythology, religion, science and martial arts to release her mind. Her work takes her to far remote areas, as she insists on spending intimate time with her subjects to better represent their most innate energy.

 “My intention is to change the gaze in photography, create a new narrative to empower Black women and create new experiences for consciousness to expand. I want to bring a great new vision of black female archetypes: the explorer, the queen, the goddess, the innocent, the sage, the mother, the caregiver, the ruler, the lover, the spiritual warrior, the magician, the every woman, so many others.”


www.delphinediallo.com 
www.lightworkco.com 
What We're Reading: The Women Who Run With Wolves

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Dexter Wimberly is an independent curator and entrepreneur who has organized exhibitions and developed programs with galleries and institutions throughout the world including The Third Line in Dubai; Contemporary Art Museum CAM Raleigh in North Carolina; The Museum of the African Diaspora (MoAD) in San Francisco; Koki Arts in Tokyo; and the Museum of Arts and Design in New York City. His exhibitions have been reviewed and featured in publications including The New York Times, Artforum, and Hyperallergic; and have received support from The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. Dexter Wimberly has served as Director of Strategic Planning at Independent Curators International in New York City. Wimberly is a Senior Critic at New York Academy of Art. He is the founder of ART WORLD CONFERENCE, a business and financial literacy conference for visual artists. He was recently listed in the Observer's "Arts Power 50: Changemakers Shaping the Art World in 2019." In 2020, Wimberly founded the Hayama Artist Residency in Hayama, Japan.

Dexter Wimberly - www.dexterwimberly.com
Art World Conference - www.artworldconference.com
Light Work - www.lightworkco.com
What We're Reading: Finite and Infinite Games

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Patrick Quarm is a contemporary painter who lives and works in Ghana. His use of richly patterned textiles from Ghana, painted on and cut out to reveal new shapes form a tapestry of historical references that confront ideas of Black and African identity. 'Quarm weaves and splices cultural signifiers from different eras and communities into multi-layered works that invite the viewer to explore them from different angles.' Quarm received his MFA at Texas Tech University and currently is showing his first New York City solo at Albertz Benda in Chelsea. The exhibition closes Saturday, Oct. 3rd. If you haven’t already, go check out his show. 

Albertz Benda - www.albertzbenda.com 
Patrick Quarm - www.patrickquarm.com
Light Work - www.lightworkco.com
What're Listening to: Oumou Sangare 

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In this 2nd episode of a two-part series with Ferrari Sheppard, the artist shares some of the intimate details of his youth and the incredible experiences that shaped him into the man he is today. From growing up in Chicago to finding himself as a creative, and adding beauty to the world one painting at a time, Ferrari spoke openly about his passions as an artist and creative individual. If your in L.A. be sure to see his highly anticipated solo show at Wilding Cran gallery in Los Angeles, on view until Oct. 31st, or view it online. 

Ferrari Sheppard - www.ferrarisheppard.com
Wilding Cran - www.wildingcran.com
Light Work - www.lightworkco.com
What Ferrari is Reading: Jack Whitten: Notes from the Woodshed

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In this first part of a two-part episode, Ferrari Sheppard joins me in conversation on living in Africa, finding his distinct style, and the rising consumption of Black art. Sheppard is a contemporary painter whose work has been described as raw figurative abstraction. His highly anticipated first solo show at Wilding Cran gallery opens in Los Angeles on September 12th 2020. 

Ferrari Sheppard - www.ferrarisheppard.com
Wilding Cran Gallery - www.wildingcran.com
Light Work Company - www.lightworkco.com
What Ferrari is Reading: Jack Whitten: Notes from the Woodshed 

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