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Visit us in February to view our AFROFUTURISM art exhibition and shop local brands and artists. Our gallery and shop rotates monthly so don't miss this one! On view until February 24, 2024.
Visit us during viewing hours listed on the flier above. Always family-friendly.
About the exhibit
This AFROFUTURISM art exhibit is a unique opportunity to explore the intersection of African culture and science-fiction. Through a variety of mediums, including visual art, music and literature, this exhibit showcases the creativity and imagination of 7 local artists who are redefining what it means to be African in the modern world. Come experience the future of African art at our AFROFUTURISM exhibit.
Opening Night
Photos courtesy of Sindayiganza Photography
Featuring
Hazziez
Hazziez aims to leave his audience with a sense of adventure. To engage with the viewers in a meta-cognitive experience; where we are allowed to explore the traumas, emotions and triggers that we find harder to explain. Additionally, Hazziez hopes that the audience feels like they’re a part of the experience as much as he is making the work.
Furthermore, most of the series I make explores the ideas of human cognition and Afrofuturism. Highlight the moments where the subject is by themselves so that we can start the journey from a place of authenticity and transparency. Overall, he believes this is when we become who we truly are; when we are Completely ourselves, when we are completely free.
The work presented in this exhibit expresses the sense of wanting more and feeling cornered. He believes that as people of color, we are assimilated into minimizing and diminishing parts of us that are beautiful and prove to benefit the world around us. Likewise, we are conditioned into thinking that we are not deserving of basic needs such as love and care. In this series we explore the emotions anxiety, grief, and salvation.
Grace O, C - Dina
www.gracevictoriatheartist.com/
Grace, is a Rhode Island-based interdisciplinary artist. She is a Rhode Island College Alumni with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting and a Bachelor of Arts in Digital Media Design, with a minor in Art History.
Grace is an abstract painter and animator influenced by the physical and linguistic morphology of natural phenomena. Through experimentation with various finishing ratios and techniques like mark-making with brushes and palette knives, she creates depth to convey spatiality reminiscent of impressionists, and futurists. By utilizing color, negative space, and lines, she constructs captivating worlds that expand beyond the canvas, inviting viewers to engage with non-finito (unfinished finished) compositions.
Her work evokes a sense of dynamism and movement inspired by Afro-futurist ideology of past, present, and future through Layering.Using mark-making techniques akin to futurist works and incorporating design choices from drawing and 3D animation, her pieces create a visual continuum between the tangible and the imagined, reflecting the influences of Afro-futurism and digital modeling in constructing spatial and dimensional. She aims to immerse the viewers within her paintings, expanding upon the intricate worlds in which my artwork exists.
Maya Malik
Maya is a Black, nonbinary, queer person who was raised as a Black girl in the Rust Belt. They are 32 and have been in New England ever since running away to college at 17 years old. All of the pieces are an expression of their mental state and were created in a personal act of art therapy to get me through the pandemic while also being a social work doctoral student.
Maya’s work is an expression of the emotional rollercoaster it is to be human, specifically dark skinned, Black and queer during a pandemic, focused on survival. Each piece symbolizes a different mood or emotion they felt at the time. Focusing on the expression of emotions through the colors of the melted crayons. Throughout the pandemic they explored ideas of; pain, hope, imagination, the future, blackness, suffering, and oppression. There are Black people in the future, and by creating this work, Maya is committing themselves to stick around and help add to the numbers.
Alua Aumade
Alua is a multidisciplinary creative. In the visual arts he specialize in collage and stencil work with sculptural elements.
A lot of the art that he makes involves art deco motifs, metal, wood,plexiglass, African masks, and repurposed electronic elements. It explores Afrofuturism in the context of sports, design, art, and history.
Sherri Randolph
Sherri Randolph is a retired technology research engineer from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She is a self taught portrait artist who enjoys painting people with oil paints. She also likes going to art shows and exhibits to support and admire other artists' work as well!
The works displayed in this show are Afro-futuristic love, because we all need a little Black love and happiness in our future.
Noella Baptiste
Noella Baptiste, a New England-based artist, is an abstract, pop artist working mainly with acrylic paint. Noella seeks to challenge traditional art norms by creating brightly-colored portraits that highlight the contours of the face while also using realistic aspects, making Noella’s style very distinctive. The artist draws inspiration from music, retro colors and patterns and the concept of prioritizing happiness and joy as a means of resisting the status quo. They own a small business called Flwr Pwr Art where they sell their original paintings, prints, stickers, handmade clay items and handmade crochet items. Noella has been drawing and painting since childhood but has been a full-time artist for three years.
In February, we celebrate and remember the history of our ancestors in America but what is there to be said about Black futures? Through Afrofuturism, we envision a future through our lens. A future that combines the magic of our ancestral and cultural beliefs and folklore with what we believe the future of science and technology will look like. With these pieces, She explores science-fiction and fantasy themes using an abstract, pop art style.
YLSANITA
Ylsanita is a multidisciplinary designer specializing in a range of mediums from film
photography to digital media. Born and raised in Providence, RI to a Latino and
Afro- Caribbean family, music was a constant. The cultural nuances that inform that
music also affects the visual representations Ylsanita creates. The artist aims to
amplify the voices seldom heard and shed light on the people seldom seen; emphasizing their strength, resilience, and unique identity. Specifically, Ylsanita aims to highlight the compelling intersectionality between Hip Hop and the immigrant
experience. Using real-life stories and experiences, they invite the audience to explore the intricate layers of identity and belonging.
While incorporating Hip Hop themes that inherently blend the real and surreal, they use both realism and surrealism to create a visual “shout-out” and narrative to address the intricate complexities of life within immigrant communities and its profound impact on successive generations. With a particular focus on emphasizing the seldom-seen images of female masculinity, their overarching artistic mission is to create a visual representation of the intersectionality of culture, religion, and mental health.