The 2nd Annual Banbôch Kreyol Festival, presented by The Haitian Times at Coney Island Amphitheater this past Sunday, May 27 was a time! I’m excited to be in collaboration with ArtxAyiti, Studio Baboun, and The Melanin Project. We presented 20+ visual artists from Haiti and the Diaspora on the amphitheater’s big screens during the music, food, art, and culture fest. I’m already thinking about next year and the magic we’ll create together.
What an honor to be featured on VOA Kreyòl for NAN SAN! Special thanks to Obed Lamy for conducting our interviews, capturing the footage, and translating me and my sister’s responses from English to Kreyòl.
NAN SAN is On view until March 31, 2024. Catch the show at:
The Haitian American Museum of Chicago
4410 N. Clark Street, Chicago, IL 60640
Hours:
Monday CLOSED
Tuesday CLOSED
Wednesday - Saturday, 12PM - 6PM
Sunday, 12PM - 4PM
"Overall, 'The Black Woman Is God' comports with SOMArts’ curatorial practices. The main gallery is a loft-like space with a second, windowless chamber on the far end. The placement of three-dimensional or otherwise large-scale works on the floor is usually deliberate and highly selective, and the paintings and smaller pieces are hung on the walls with the minimum viable amount of breathing room.
It’s not cluttered, exactly. But there is enough to keep the eye engaged that a piece that exerts a tractor beam from across the room can seem even more powerful. The one I have in mind is Tania L. Balan-Gaubert’s Sibyl # 3 / Zili Dechennen (Zili Unleashed). The Haitian-American Balan-Gaubert’s Sibyls series “aims to refuse Western demonization of African religion and ritual,” and while the hooded figure with an electrifying gaze in this work cannot be divorced from that context, it could also be read as a mysterious saint from Eastern Orthodox Christianity, with red and gold sequins and a multicolored mosaic halo. This Sibyl clutches her belly, which may be pregnant, and holds her left arm up, its palm forward. A human heart sits at her throat, and a bandanna with an American flag print conceals her mouth. It’s archetypal, nearly Tarot-esque. You cannot look away."
+Peter Lawrence Kane, SF WEEKLY
cover art by Bushmama Africa.
Sibyl #3 is on her way to Cali for her first west coast show, "The Black Woman is God: Divine Revolution." And I can't tell you how excited i am! the spirit behind this exhibition is essentially why I started the Sibyl Series - a reclamation, a healing, a subversion of eurocentric and patriarchal notions of the divine, a testimony and a protest that #theblackwomanisgod.
Co-Curated by Karen Seneferu and Melorra Green the show opens to the public July 20, 6pm-10pm at SOMArts Cultural Center.
Learn more about the exhibition and participating artists here.
131 Hubbell Project Space Activation presented 5/5 (Five5ths) | April 11 - 15
BLAXCESS TV is a performance meditating on ideas of visibility, invisibility, and access within institutional spaces. For the duration of a week, Five5ths will disrupt the idea of a formal gallery space.
this tuesday at CCA, the second installation for 5/5ths
recently happened upon these features of Sibyl #3 in all her glory! so happy to have participated in BAM this year.
click the images to read more :)
check out more photos from HOLD and like/follow us at our Facebook page!
HOLD contributors included: Tania L. Balan-Gaubert, Troy Lamarr, Eric Chipamuriwo, Dionne Lee, Richard Nelson, Ngozi Oparah, Nkiru Oparah, and Rebekah Smith.
myself and two colleagues started an artist collective we're calling 5/5 (fivefifths). our first group show debuts next friday at CCA. #amen for beginnings.
BLACK ARTSTORY MONTH 2017 PRESENTS THE ALTAR: RITUALS IN HEALING IN THE AFRICAN DIASPORA
For the first time, Sibyl #2, Sibyl #3 and Sibyl #4 will be on view together! See them at T/PSY Brooklyn in February.
Myrtle Avenue Brooklyn Partnership presents its 5th Annual Black Artstory Month, The Altar: Rituals of Healing in the African Diaspora curated by Suhaly Bautista-Carolina.
Featuring the work of over 30 Brooklyn-based visual artists, and 20 businesses, the FREE month-long event series and Artwalk explores the vital role and traditions around healing, restoration, and realignment in African Diasporic communities.
On view: February 1-28 at T/PSY, 584 Myrtle Avenue, Brooklyn NY, 11205.
Events take place every Friday evening and include everything from dance, visual art and live exhibitions to film screenings and poetry readings along Myrtle Avenue.
Learn more about Black Artstory and RSVP for events here.