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Exhibition

Carry Over: New Voices from the Global African Diaspora

Curated by Kalia Brooks Nelson

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AFRICA'SOUT! and Smack Mellon are pleased to present the group exhibition Carry Over: New Voices from the Global African Diaspora curated by Kalia Brooks Nelson. The exhibition will be on view 2 - 30 June 2018 at Smack Mellon, located at 92 Plymouth Street, Brooklyn NY.  

Carry Over: New Voices from the Global African Diaspora brings together the work of 10 contemporary artists: Firelei Báez, Layo Bright, Melissa Calderón, Baseera Khan, Stephanie A Lindquist, Jasmine Murrell, Anna Parisi, Keisha Scarville, Pamela Phatsimo Sunstrum and Saya Woolfalk. Each of these women artists exposes audiences to the varied, lived experiences of migration, and the wide range of themes surrounding it. Concerned with both the tangible and intangible matter that women carry, each artist positions women as the driving forces who carry memories, stories, emotions, traditions, artifacts, objects, culture, religion, science, and technology as they move through time and space. In a period when women make up half of those migrating, and their stories are often excluded from the narratives of migration, this exhibition puts women of African descent at the forefront, expanding the discourses of migration and the processes of identifying oneself and community in the context of social and cultural transit.

This exhibition is the first produced by AFRICA’SOUT! and marks a shift to an alternative fundraising approach with a month-long exhibition as opposed to a one night auction-fête. Sale of artwork throughout the run of the exhibition will benefit AFRICA’SOUT! and Smack Mellon, both registered 501c3 organizations. The collaboration underscores the commitment of two organizations dedicated to celebrating artists who dare to make radical change and to forging partnerships which amplify that effort.  For more information about available works contact  team@africasout.com.

Celebration 2018 will be held in honor of the artists on Friday, 1 June from 7PM – 11PM. To purchase tickets please visit www.africasout.com. Ticket proceeds will fund AFRICA’SOUT!'s operating budget and programming that supports its mission to honor, support and defend artists who radically change the narrative around Africa and its Diaspora, first and foremost, for themselves.

Please join us for the public opening Saturday, 2 June from 12PM – 6PM including an Artist Talk moderated by Curator, Kalia Brooks Nelson at 3PM.  Forthcoming is an illustrated catalogue with essays by Curator, Kalia Brooks Nelson and Executive Director of AFRICA'SOUT!, Kibra A Yohannes. 

ABOUT AFRICA’SOUT!
Founded in 2014 by artist and activist Wangechi Mutu, AFRICA'SOUT! harnesses the power of artists and the creative community, especially from within Africa and its Diaspora, to highlight the urgency of pressing social and political issues through unique and dynamic platforms. AFRICA’SOUT! grant-making is to advance radical change through the power of art and activism, particularly supporting artists, initiatives and institutions from Africa and its Diaspora that celebrate freedom of creative expression. AFRICA’SOUT!s mission is to honor, support and defend artists who radically change the narrative around Africa and its Diaspora, first and foremost, for themselves.

ABOUT Smack Mellon
Smack Mellon is a nonprofit arts organization located in Dumbo, Brooklyn. Its mission is to nurture and support emerging, under-recognized mid-career and women artists in the creation and exhibition of new work. Through our exhibitions, we engage curators and present artists who are exploring critical social inequities and challenging the status quo around issues like racial inequality, gender variance, the environment, food justice, and education inequality. www.smackmellon.org

Smack Mellon receives exhibition support from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, New York City Council Member Stephen Levin, and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature, and with generous support from The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Robert Lehman Foundation, Iorio Charitable Foundation, Select Equity Group Foundation, many individuals and Smack Mellon’s Members. Space for Smack Mellon’s programs is generously provided by the Walentas family and Two Trees Management.

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MEDIA CONTACT
AFRICA’SOUT!, press@africasout.com, 718 398 6952
Smack Mellon, Jessica Holburn, jholburn@smackmellon.org, 718-834-8761

IMAGES:
(Left) Keisha Scarville, Untitled from Passport Series (Black Dots), 2014; (Center) Keisha Scarville, Untitled from Passport Series (Black Stars), 2018; (Right) Keisha Scarville, Untitled from Passport Series, 2017. Courtesy of the Artist.

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