NONA FAUSTINE, MY COUNTRY
PHOTOGRAPHY, PRINTMAKING Megan Christiansen PHOTOGRAPHY, PRINTMAKING Megan Christiansen

NONA FAUSTINE, MY COUNTRY

In “My Country,” Faustine confronts and interrogates iconic American monuments, such as the Lincoln Memorial and the Statue of Liberty, using her camera to reframe conventional, colonialist perspectives, and reinserting some of the truth and trauma behind these memorialized spaces…

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MICHÈLE PEARSON CLARKE, SUCK TEETH COMPOSITIONS, 2018
INSTALLATION, FILM Megan Christiansen INSTALLATION, FILM Megan Christiansen

MICHÈLE PEARSON CLARKE, SUCK TEETH COMPOSITIONS, 2018

This three-channel video and sound installation presents a choral symphony structured around the everyday Caribbean oral gesture of sucking teeth. Referred to variously as kiss teeth, steups, chups, and stchoops, to suck teeth is to produce a sound by sucking in air through the teeth, while pressing the tongue against the upper or lower teeth, with the lips pursed or slightly flattened…

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KHADIJA SAYE, DWELLING: IN THIS SPACE WE BREATHE
PHOTOGRAPHY Megan Christiansen PHOTOGRAPHY Megan Christiansen

KHADIJA SAYE, DWELLING: IN THIS SPACE WE BREATHE

The series was created out of the artist’s personal need for spiritual grounding after experiencing trauma. This work is based on the search for what gives meaning to our lives and what we hold onto in times of despair and life changing challenges. We exist in the marriage of physical and spiritual remembrance...

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ERIC HART JR, MISTER MISTER, 2023
PHOTOGRAPHY Megan Christiansen PHOTOGRAPHY Megan Christiansen

ERIC HART JR, MISTER MISTER, 2023

It was based on the Shakespeare quote, ‘All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players.’ I challenged that in my artist statement and followed up by asking- if all the world’s a stage, for whom is the show?…

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NICK DRAIN, WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING AT? ON BLACKNESS, IMAGES AND (IN)VISIBILITY, 2020
TEACHING RESOURCES, PHOTOGRAPHY Megan Christiansen TEACHING RESOURCES, PHOTOGRAPHY Megan Christiansen

NICK DRAIN, WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING AT? ON BLACKNESS, IMAGES AND (IN)VISIBILITY, 2020

Nick Drain writes from a theoretical and historical lens on how the imaging of black people has served as a tool of white supremacy and oppression through modern history. Finally, he introduces the concept of selective visibility and "dark sousveillance" as an alternative strategy for black individuals in projected futures…

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RASHOD TAYLOR, MY AMERICA
PHOTOGRAPHY Megan Christiansen PHOTOGRAPHY Megan Christiansen

RASHOD TAYLOR, MY AMERICA

My America is an examination of what it's like to live in America as a Black man. The wet plate collodion process was first introduced in the 1850’s. I use this process to connect the past to the present, and to explore the atrocities of slavery, Jim Crow and the institutional and systematic racism that remains so tightly woven into the fabric of American society…

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ASIA STEWART, LA NÉGRESSE BLANCHE
PERFORMANCE Megan Christiansen PERFORMANCE Megan Christiansen

ASIA STEWART, LA NÉGRESSE BLANCHE

La Négresse blanche is a six hour performance that marks the beginning of Stewart's Graft series. The piece is titled after Mayotte Capecia’s book of the same name and draws off of selections from Frantz Fanon’s Black Skin, White Masks…

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KWAME BRATHWAITE, SELECTED WORKS
PHOTOGRAPHY Megan Christiansen PHOTOGRAPHY Megan Christiansen

KWAME BRATHWAITE, SELECTED WORKS

Inspired in part by the writings of Marcus Garvey and the teachings of Carlos Cooks,  Kwame Brathwaite's photography created the visual overture for the Black is Beautiful Movement in the late 50's and early 60’s…

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AWOL ERIZKU, SELECTED WORKS
PHOTOGRAPHY Megan Christiansen PHOTOGRAPHY Megan Christiansen

AWOL ERIZKU, SELECTED WORKS

Los Angeles-based artist Awol Erizku’s multi-disciplinary practice encompasses photography, sculpture, painting, installation, film, and sound to shape an artistic language that exists at the intersection of image making and language…

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VANESSA CHARLOT, BLACK WOMAN'S SHADOW
PHOTOGRAPHY Megan Christiansen PHOTOGRAPHY Megan Christiansen

VANESSA CHARLOT, BLACK WOMAN'S SHADOW

In America, she lives in a perpetual state of trauma. To survive, she moves performatively through life, without processing her anguish. She symbolizes what has become the American norm—grieving, coping and healing in the shadows while carrying the burden that is one’s Blackness…

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ARTHUR JAFA, APEX, 2013
FILM Megan Christiansen FILM Megan Christiansen

ARTHUR JAFA, APEX, 2013

Jafa has asked, at what scale should we consider the lives of Black Americans? For over thirty years—starting while he worked as a cinematographer—Jafa has compiled notebooks with clippings from a broad array of sources. His notebooks, facsimiles of which are on view nearby, are repositories of references and ideas that serve as reminders of the depth and beauty of Black life in America…

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AMBER N. FORD, MISTAKEN IDENTITY, 2018
PHOTOGRAPHY Megan Christiansen PHOTOGRAPHY Megan Christiansen

AMBER N. FORD, MISTAKEN IDENTITY, 2018

The series, Mistaken Identity, shown in the group exhibition A Color Removed, tackles the question, “Who has the right to safety?” by presenting a collection of images of everyday objects that have been mistaken as weapons and led to the deaths of people of color at the hands of law enforcement officers…

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SANDRA BREWSTER, ROOTS, 2021-2022
PHOTOGRAPHY, INSTALLATION Megan Christiansen PHOTOGRAPHY, INSTALLATION Megan Christiansen

SANDRA BREWSTER, ROOTS, 2021-2022

In her outdoor photographic installation, Roots, Toronto-based artist Sandra Brewster explores the long history of Black presence in the urban wilderness. Developed during her tenure as Koerner Artist in Residence at Evergreen Brick Works, the photographs document the area’s plant life, greeting visitors as they explore the valley…

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IMANI DENNISON AND LATETRA METTS-OWENS, NAKED TRUTH
PHOTOGRAPHY Megan Christiansen PHOTOGRAPHY Megan Christiansen

IMANI DENNISON AND LATETRA METTS-OWENS, NAKED TRUTH

In the series titled “Naked Truth,” a collaboration between fine artist Latetra Metts-Owens and Photographer, Imani Dennison, explores the truth behind people naked selves. In phase one of this project, subjects were interviewed and recorded on film, revealing things about themselves that were both uncomfortable and secret…

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