by Amanda Lima, Communications Specialist
The Amistad Research Center, in collaboration with the Rivers Institute of Contemporary Art and Thought, is delighted to announce the award of $500,000 from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to support artist archival residencies at the center and the development of new work that circulates material history.
During the two year project, the co-organized artist research residencies will welcome five international artists to New Orleans. Artists include American-born Kandis Williams, who uses collage, performance, writing, publishing and curation in her artistic work. She explores and deconstructs critical theory around race, nationalism, authority and eroticism. Founder of Cinémathèque de Tanger, Moroccan-French artist Yto Barrada is recognized for her multidisciplinary investigations into cultural phenomena and historical narratives. British artist Helen Cammock probes social histories through film, photography, print, text, song, and performance to question mainstream historical narratives around blackness, womanhood, wealth power, poverty and vulnerability. Alia Farid, a Kuwaiti-Puerto Rican visual artist, works at the intersection of art and architecture to give visibility to narratives that are obscured by hegemonic power. And American collage artist Troy Montes-Michie works in assemblage and juxtaposition to engage Black consciousness, the Latinx experience, immigration and queerness to subvert dominant narratives by placing past and present in confrontation.
Our research residencies will serve as the foundation for the development of publications, time-based programs, and exhibitions with contemporary artists. The Amistad and Rivers staff look forward to sharing the amazing projects and news to come about the artists. We thank The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation for its support.
The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation believes that the arts and humanities are where we express our complex humanity, and believes that everyone deserves the beauty, transcendence, and freedom to be found there. Through their grants, they seek to build just communities enriched by meaning and empowered by critical thinking, where ideas and imagination can thrive.
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