Depth of Identity: Art as Memory and Archive is an exhibition of twenty-two artists exploring intersectional stories of diasporic identity. The exhibition will gather together paintings, drawings, prints, sculptures, photographs, and installations by artists of Indo, African, Asian, European, and Indigenous heritage. The exhibition will represent the work of first-generation artists from twelve countries chronicling social and personal experiences that explore themes related to the perceptions of identity. The selected and commissioned artworks will delve into materiality and culture, precarious bodies, migration and citizenship, carnival, and matters of Blackness. Presenting artists will include Aisha Tandiwe Bell, Katrina Coombs, Samo Davis, Michael Elliott, Yacine Tilala Fall, Nadine Hall, Grettel Arrate Hechavarría, Caroline Holder, Kim Myung-Sik, Izia Lee Lindsay, Suchitra Mattai, Bruno Métura, Mazola Wa Mwashighadi, Kurt Nahar, Julian Pardo, Dhiradj Ramsamoedj, Asser St. Val, Autumn T. Thomas, René Tosari, Stephanie J. Woods, Kim Yantis and Lucinda Linderman, as well as regionally selected guest artists at the show’s traveling venues.
Depth of Identity: Art as Memory and Archive
Aisha Tandiwe Bell, Out Damned Box, 2022. Courtesy of Diaspora Vibe Cultural Arts Incubator.
asser sainval, MQNTUIVRS, 2022. Courtesy of Diaspora Vibe Cultural Arts Incubator.
Izia Lindsay, Symbolism In Caribbean Iconography. Courtesy of Diaspora Vibe Cultural Arts Incubator.
Kim Myung-Sik, East Side-MS08, 2022. Oil on canvas, 63 3/4 x 12 inches. Courtesy of Diaspora Vibe Cultural Arts Incubator.
Kurt Nahar, Wake up an listen, 2022. Courtesy of Diaspora Vibe Cultural Arts Incubator.
Samo Davis, I’m Alive, 2022, Courtesy of Diaspora Vibe Cultural Arts Incubator.
Suchitra, Self-portrait as a stranger, 2020, Courtesy of Diaspora Vibe Cultural Arts Incubator.
“The terrific range of project proposals we receive each year speaks to the mobile and porous disciplinary boundaries of contemporary art practice, and to the rich and inventive ways writers approach art today. They are alert to the urgent need to expand the conventions of art history and criticism with ideas from other discourses, such as black studies, transnational and diaspora studies, gender and women’s studies, and LGBT studies. The work of lesser known and overlooked artists and art communities continues to be mined, with writers articulating new ways to counter the striking imbalances of race, class and gender that continue to affect the arts and the culture industry.”