Amy Sherald (b. 1973, United States/Lives and works in Baltimore, Maryland)
Amy Sherald's portrait paintings and lush, high-keyed palettes have earned her critical acclaim. In 2016, she was awarded first prize in the Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition at the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery.
Sophie Zinga (established in 2012, Dakar, Senegal)
Sophie Zinga is a fashion brand that reflects the minimal graphic and design sensibilities of its founder, designer Sophie Nzinga Sy, as well as her passion for art, travel and the multiple cultures that shape and inform her life.
Lina Iris Viktor (b. 1987, England/Lives and works in New York)
Lina Iris Viktor is a multi-disciplinary artist who adheres to the color palette of blue, black, white and 24-karat gold to create dynamic paintings, living sculptures, photography, performance works and installations.
Brenna Youngblood (b. 1979, United States/Lives and works in Los Angeles)
Brenna Youngblood is a painter who creates paintings and photo collage, her favored medium, to explore and reflect the multicultural layers of meaning in the "City of Angels."
Billie Zangewa (b. 1973, South Africa/Lives and works in Johannesburg, South Africa)
Billie Zangewa, an artist who has had an extensive history in fashion and advertising, is internationally acclaimed for her multi-layered cut silk tapestries.
RELATED EVENTS
Opening Reception: Celebrate the Museum's 20th anniversary and the opening of AFRICA FORECAST: Fashioning Contemporary Life on Thursday, September 15, 2016, at 6:30 p.m. This special event features Artists Talk, a conversation with artists Vanessa German, Ayana V. Jackson and Fabiola Jean-Louis moderated by exhibition co-curator Erika Dalya Massaquoi, Ph.D.
A host of exhibition-related programs are slated for September through December 2016 including Yoga in the Museum, a panel discussion with artists, Community Conversations, film-screenings and much more.
ABOUT THE CURATORS
Andrea Barnwell Brownlee, Ph.D., an art historian, curator, writer, critic, and recipient of the prestigious 2013 David C. Driskell Prize in African American Art and Art History, has been the director of the Spelman College Museum of Fine Art since 2001. She has curated and co-curated numerous exhibitions including "iona rozeal brown: a3 . . . black on both sides" (2004), "María Magdalena Campos-Pons: Dreaming of an Island (2008)," "Undercover: Performing and Transforming Black Female Identities" (2009), "IngridMwangiRobertHutter: Constant Triumph" (2011), "Maren Hassinger. . .Dreaming" (2014) and "Howardena Pindell" (2015). "Cinema Remixed & Reloaded: Black Women Artists and the Moving Image Since 1970" (2007), which she co-curated with Valerie Cassel Oliver, senior curator, Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, was presented in the Havena Bienial in Havana, Cuba in 2012. Brownlee is the recipient of numerous academic, professional and scholarly awards including a MacArthur Curatorial Fellowship in the Department of Modern and Contemporary Art at The Art Institute of Chicago (1998 - 2000), a Future Women Leadership Award from ArtTable (2005) and the inaugural Nexus Award from the Atlanta Contemporary Arts Center (2010). Brownlee, an alumna of Spelman College, earned her Ph.D. in Art History from Duke University.
Erika Dalya Massaquoi, Ph.D., is a curator, educator and entrepreneur. Her brand, The Oula Company blends modern, global style and social responsibility. Her research interests are African and diaspora art, fashion and new and emergent media. Massaquoi's current curatorial work includes "DISGUISE: Masks and Contemporary African Art, " Seattle Art Museum (2015), The Fowler Museum at UCLA (2015 - 2016), Brooklyn Museum (2016) and GENIUS, Frye Art Museum (2015 - 2016). As the former assistant dean of the School of Art & Design at The Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City, she organized numerous fashion-oriented exhibitions (2008 - 2012). She has held curatorial positions at the Whitney Museum of American Art and the Museum of the Moving Image. Massaquoi received undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of Chicago and her Ph.D. from New York University in 2004. Her thesis exhibition, "Race In Digital Space," originated at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) List Visual Arts Center (2001) and traveled to the Studio Museum in Harlem (2002) and the Spelman College Museum of Fine Art (2002). Massaquoi has taught new media, cinema and contemporary art classes at Yale University, New York University and The New School for Social Research.
About Spelman College Museum of Fine Art
In "Six Reasons to Love Atlanta," CNN.com praised the Spelman College Museum of Fine Art for its "fantastically curated exhibitions" that focus on art by and about women of the African Diaspora. Since the Museum opened in 1996, it has established an impressive track record for organizing first-rate, mission-specific, art exhibitions that expand art offerings in Atlanta and the southeast region. It has garnered a reputation for organizing exhibitions that merit national and international attention. Milestones include being selected as the first institution from the United States that jointly (along with the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston) represented the United States at the 2012 Havana Biennial in Havana, Cuba. The Museum is poised to continue its trajectory of pursuing ambitious relevant projects that have a lasting impact. For more information visit
museum.spelman.edu.
About Spelman College
Founded in 1881, Spelman College is a highly selective, liberal arts college widely recognized as the global leader in the education of women of African descent. Located in Atlanta, Ga., the College's picturesque campus is home to 2,100 students. Outstanding alumnae include Children's Defense Fund Founder Marian Wright Edelman, Sam's Club CEO Rosalind Brewer, Former Acting Surgeon General and Spelman's first alumna President Audrey Forbes Manley, Harvard University professor Evelynn Hammonds, author Pearl Cleage and actress LaTanya Richardson Jackson. For more information, visit
www.spelman.edu.
The following files are available for download:
- Photo Captions-AFRICA FORECAST-Spelman College Museum of Fine Art
- Vanessa German "THE BLACKS (Alexius Diana) -Spelman College Museum of Fine Art
- Fabiola Jean-Louis - "Amina" -Spelman College Museum of Fine Art
Contact information Audrey Arthur Spelman College Office of Communications (404) 270-5892 office Email Contact
