Programs Dialogues - A Preview of The View From Here

Details

  • Date:
    Jul 17, 2019
  • End Date:
    Jul 17, 2019
  • Time:
    7:30 PM -
  • Location:

Dialogues: A Preview of The View From Here

with Laylah Amatullah Barrayn and Joseph L. Underwood moderated by Ibou Ibrahima Ndoye 

Wednesday, July 17, 2019, 7:30pm

Brooklyn-based photographer Laylah Amatullah Barrayn and curator Joseph L. Underwood (Kent State University) will introduce an exhibition of contemporary art that began in Dakar and is currently touring the U.S.
 
The View From Here: Contemporary Perspectives From Senegal features 11 unique perspectives on Senegal from artists based in Senegal, Mali, Madagascar, France, and the U.S. The exhibition explores the artists’ divergent perspectives on urbanism, religion, economics, and technology in media ranging from painting, sculpture, photography, printmaking, video, collage, and installation.
 
Barrayn and Underwood will also address their personal histories in Senegal—echoing the exhibition’s theme of foregrounding perspectives—followed by a dialogue where they will discuss the burgeoning art scene, the changing landscape of photography, the impact of the Dakar Biennale, and the opportunities for any artist who chooses to visit or work in Senegal.
 
The conversation will be moderated by artist Ibou Ibrahima Ndoye.

The View From Here will be on view at the Zuccaire Gallery (SUNY Stony Brook University) from July 18-27 and August 26-October 12, with an Opening Reception on July 20, 5-7PM. The exhibition is accompanied by a full calendar of events; for more information, please visit the Zuccaire Gallery website.

 

FREE with RSVP.

 

 
LAYLAH AMATULLAH BARRAYN has participated in a number of exhibitions, including projects with the Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts (MoCADA, Brooklyn), the Museum of Contemporary Photography, (Chicago), and the 2018 MANIFESTA European Biennial of Contemporary Art (Palermo, Italy). Though not a native of Senegal, Barrayn has developed a deep relationship with the country, as is evident in her celebrated Baye Fall series which depicts the lively garments and rites of the Sufi spiritualistic community in Touba. Alongside her artistic efforts, Barrayn is a photographer for the New York Times and the founder/co-editor of MFON: Women Photographers of the African Diaspora.
 

JOSEPH L. UNDERWOOD is Assistant Professor of Art History for Africa and the Diaspora at Kent State University. His research focuses on networks created by artists from Senegal as they employ different platforms to engage the global art world between 1960 and the present. He has contributed to exhibition projects at various museums in the U.S. and Senegal and maintains an active curatorial practice. Publications on modern and contemporary arts from Africa can be found in African Arts and World Art, with forthcoming chapters in an edited volume on African-American filmmaker William Greaves and a new Oxford University Press textbook.

 

Born in West Africa’s most progressive capital city, Dakar, Senegal, glass-painting artist IBRAHIMA NDOYE has combined modernism and traditionalism to create a style unique to himself. Ibrahima, commonly known as “Ibou,” grew up as the oldest child of a family of four boys in the suburbs of Dakar. Ibou’s mother made her living as a dressmaker while his grandmother worked as a tie-dye artist. Regularly surrounded by colorful African textiles and fabrics, it is not surprising that Ibou says he “socialized with art and cohabited with colors” from a very young age. Now Ibou resides in Jersey City, New Jersey, and regularly exhibits his art both locally and internationally in addition to holding glass painting workshops at libraries and schools. Ibou intends to continue promoting and expanding his artistic vision through exhibition, education and cultural exchange.