"What Shall I Tell My Children Who Are Black?" art exhibit and opening

1524 U Street Northwest,Washington DC 20009

09 September, 2022

Description

Zawadi African Art Gallery and Boutique presents local, Black women artists in a new exhibit entitled, "What Shall I Tell My Children Who Are Black?”. The show opens with a reception at Zawadi on Friday, September 9, 2022, from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. The exhibit will close on September 24, 2022. About the exhibit: Inspired by the poem of the same name by Dr. Margaret Burroughs, co-founder of DuSable Black History Museum and Education Center, the exhibit allows the viewer to witness and experience healing through art and objects, eliciting an emotional response instead of objects purely for functionality and aesthetics. The exhibit features a group of five distinct contemporary Black women artists from the DMV, highlighting paintings, wood art, and hair art from: Kibian Adams Greene Kibian Adams Greene is a Caribbean American figurative abstract painter, collage artist, photographer, and writer. Born in Guyana, South America, she began painting seriously in 2015 and is mostly self-taught. Greene works in various mediums, preferring vibrant color and heavy texture. She hopes her work fills voids, starts conversations, heals hearts, sparks joy, and creates connections. Her art is heavily influenced by her travels and life experiences, personal (death, beauty, life, and loss) and public (freedom, justice, and equality as fundamental human rights). Her most recent work features her Stream of Consciousness series, reminiscent of simpler times when doodling and embroidery were childhood pastimes. She resides in Baltimore, MD, with two of her four children, her mom, and their cat, Bella. Her studio is located at the Motor House. Erica Jo Clarke Erica Jo Clarke lives and works as a visual artist and lawyer in Washington, DC. Her art practice specializes in portraiture of all kinds, using acrylic paint and charcoal as her primary mediums. Erica’s primary artistic influences are Van Gogh, Deana Lawson, Henry Taylor, and Cassi Namoda. Erica is self-taught and works primarily to convert emotion and philosophical meanings to the viewer of her work. Erica’s work aims to convert the esoteric sense of Black people living in America. The paintings, often purposefully distorted, negotiate singularity and individualism, and speak to the existential awakenings birthed by pain and confusion surrounding identity. Liz Miller Liz Miller is a second-generation fine artist. Dance/ Performance art is part of her repertoire; she performs locally and internationally (in various Canadian cities from 2002-2005, Monrovia, Liberia in 2001, and Vizianagaram, India in 2015). Her fine art has been shown nationwide but also internationally in Japan, Indonesia, and England. She has a B. A. in Art and Design from Towson University and an MFA from Maryland Institute College of Art. She has been a teaching artist for the last eighteen years and, currently, is an art teacher for Baltimore County Public schools. She creates hair sculptures, performance art, and film. Her films capture Black bodies cleansing and blessing previously traumatic spaces for Black and Brown bodies. She has been a guest speaker at Johns Hopkins University and Maryland Institute College of Art. Candice NoelleRx Candice NoelleRx is an artist and illustrator from the Philadelphia metro area currently residing outside Baltimore, MD. Her art practice uses wood to create images celebrating Black beauty, love, and culture to challenge negative narratives and shine a positive light on Blackness in America. Through her art, Candice seeks to move beyond the viewer’s intellectualized response to human connection and cultural expression to elicit a more emotional response, tapping into memories of love, sometimes pain, and often perseverance. Her art emphasizes coloration and detail, highlighting the variety of brown tones created when light reflects off of brown skin and accentuating the beauty and complexity of Black hair. Nicole Wandera Nicole Wandera is an interdisciplinary artist born in Nairobi, Kenya and currently based in Northern Virginia. She graduated with a BFA in Communication Arts from Virginia Commonwealth University. She primarily works with acrylics, and the integration of art and technology is part of her artistic process. During her residency at the Torpedo art factory in Alexandria, VA, she finished a project that focused on translating emotions into a multi-sensory experience involving electric paint, coding, and music. She created a sense of synesthesia by allowing the audience to be part of the art, and this work was part of a group exhibition at Target Gallery. Nicole believes that we all deserve a life of dignity, equality, and respect, regardless of our religious beliefs, skin color, gender, or whom we love. Following this purpose, she has worked with National grassroots organizations such as Art with Impact, National Network to Ending Domestic Violence, and Black Lives Matter. Alexandria Times, Yoga District, and East City Arts have featured her work. Nicole is part of the Gay Men's Choir Portrait competition, which will complete in 2024 with a performance at the Kennedy Center. She recently concluded a mural for Victory housing in a mixed-income affordable housing complex in Petworth through Cultural DC. Nicole is always searching for a new way to express and share her stories and experiences and believes that creating is the practice of nurturing visual ideation. About the curator: Adam Odomore Adam Odomore is an artist-archivist engaged in “preservation as a form of futurism,” a researcher, writer, and curator — a memory worker of African and African American art, photography, and culture. His interests lie at the intersection of art as it relates to memory and representation (of the self and the communal), rest and sensuality, gender, and race. He uses collage as a painterly medium merging with paint, mixed media and photography, photomontage, charcoal and pastel, pencil and ink, and a signature of works incorporating African forms and images of Black people. Typically autobiographical in nature, his works depict a relatability on his personal journey as an artist and a Black being. Steadfastly contemporary, Adam regularly chooses to work with objects symbolically associated with gender and Blackness. Documenting the ordinary and the extraordinary— taking control of the narrative and amplifying Black voices, histories, legacies, dreams, and futures. About Zawadi African Art Gallery and Boutique: Zawadi opened on U St. in Washington, D. C. in 1992 and has grown and evolved along with the street, which is now a major attraction for diverse and well-traveled visitors. The owner, Irene T. Whalen, lived and worked in East, West, and Southern Africa, bringing Zawadi the continent's knowledge and a strong commitment to small-scale entrepreneurs and the environment. Zawadi features contemporary and traditional African art focusing on home accessories. Textiles, home accessories, and art pieces change frequently and are often one of a kind. There is always something special to be found in Zawadi.