Exhibition I Hope This Helps

Opening: May 18 – September 1, 2024

NEW YORK, NY – On May 18, 2024, The Africa Center will present I Hope This Helps, a solo multimedia exhibition featuring multi-sensory poetic installations by Harlem-based artist, Samiya Bashir. Featuring 20 works developed in 20 Standards, I Hope This Helps explores the complexities of human interaction and engages with critical issues impacting our society. As the world grapples with profound change, I Hope This Helps evokes shared experiences of upheaval, displacement, and the relentless pursuit of hope amidst uncertainty. 

Through the intersection of text, sound, and video, I Hope This Helps offers a non-linear approach that encourages viewers to engage with each Standard independently. Fabrics will be suspended throughout the exhibition in varying heights, creating a flowing pathway that guides the audience through the works. Rather than building meaning sequentially, each piece challenges conventional notions of accessibility and confronts hierarchies, creating a safe space for controversial conversations that are often relegated to therapy or theory. Bashir’s works will invite visitors into an internal dialogue to provoke erosive emotions outside of more limiting “standard” frameworks.

Standard

 – [heraldry] a long, tapering flag or ensign, as of a monarch or a nation
 – a form of language widely accepted as the usual form
 – a rule or principle used as a basis for judgment
 – an upright support or supporting part
 – a distinct petal, larger than the rest
 – a vexillum

Bashir states, ”I Hope This Helps has a dynamic arrangement that invites viewers to navigate the space, sometimes encountering each Standard closer for a more intimate experience, and at other times, drawing them forward with a sense of anticipation.”

Uzodinma Iweala, CEO of The Africa Center states, “We’re privileged to have Samiya exhibit her work at The Africa Center. It is timely, relevant, and reflects that the varied ways in which we experience this life as individuals are much more alike at the core than they are different, no matter what part of the world from which we might come.”

Bashir’s practice explores the intersections of culture, change, and identity through the lens of race, gender, the body, and sexuality. Bashir originally conceptualized I Hope This Helps between 2019 and 2020, and briefly debuted at the American Academy in Rome before being immediately disrupted by the pandemic. 

Following her residency at Sculpture Space in Utica NY, and with the generous support of the New York Council on the Arts grant, Bashir has integrated new elements and insights into I Hope This Helps,  gained through years of experimentation. Bashir has authored three poetry collections, the most recent being the award-winning “Field Theories” (2018 Oregon Book Award). Her accolades include the Rome Prize in Literature, the Pushcart Prize, and residencies across the US.

I Hope This Helps will be open through September 1st. 

Credits and Related Content 

I Hope This Helps is curated by Favour Ritaro, Curatorial Projects Consultant.  The exhibition is made possible at The Africa Center with support of NYSCA & Sculpture Space.

Exhibition Dates and Hours:

May 18 – September 1, 2024

Wednesday-Friday: 9AM - 4PM
Saturday: 12pm- 9pm
Sunday: 12pm- 8pm

Media Contacts: 

The Africa Center 

press@theafricacenter.org

Ayofemi Kirby

ayofemi@itseleventhirtysix.com