Akwaaba Gallery Exhibition Explores Immigrant Experience of Caribbean American Artists

(NEWARK, NJ) — Akwaaba Gallery in Newark presents “Currency of Resilience: Exploring Immigrant Narratives,” an exhibition of four Caribbean American artists whose work reflects their cultural roots and how they employ art to navigate the intersection of power and identity in America. The exhibition will be on view from July 13 through August 31, 2024.

“The ability to adapt to the new, or rebound from rapidly changing, usually unfavorable, circumstances can be codified as the ‘currency of resilience,’” explained curator and artist Victor Davson, a Guyanese immigrant whose work is in the exhibition. “It is an attribute typically identified with immigrant and migrant communities who leave their homeland in search of a better life.’’

Other artists include Jesse Wright, a Jamaican-American artist, Stanwyck Cromwell, who is from Guyana, and Shoshanna Weinberger, who is Jamaican American.

The artists’ perspectives as Caribbean Americans adds to the broader, and often untold story, of the African diaspora and how it plays out in the U.S. across cultures and nationalities, said Davson. The exhibition shows how they have drawn from their homelands and lives in America to create art that illuminates both experiences.

“These narratives are not part of mainstream conversations,’’ said Davson. “In America, things tend to be cast as black or white and for us it’s much more complicated than that. Art by Caribbean American artist is not monolithic.”

During a time of anti-immigrant sentiment and politicizing, the show is a reminder of immigrants’ creativity, contributions, and determination to succeed, said Davson, who arrived in Brooklyn in 1973. For 33 years, he was the director of Aljira, A Center for Contemporary Art in Newark.

“Immigrants are the lifeblood of this country,’’ he said.”They work twice as hard to get ahead. They’re driven and motivated. Many have an entrepreneurial spirit. They believe in the American dream.’’

The gallery will have an Opening from 5:00pm to 8:00pm on Saturday, July 13, 2024. Akwaaba Gallery is located at 509 South Orange Avenue in Newark, New Jersey.

Here is more information on artists in the exhibition:

Stanwyck Cromwell: Born in Guyana, Cromwell’s adult life has been spent away from his country of origin. Yet, in spite of the prolonged absence, memories of his homeland — ever present in his narrative paintings with their warm chromatic inflections—are vivid and visceral. Cromell’s multifaceted oeuvre, spanning a variety of media— including painting, drawing and sculpture—is a seamless record of the resilience of his people across the Guyanese diaspora.

Shoshanna Weinberger: Though her identity at times does not fall into a particular category visually, Weinberger believes her Caribbean American background influences her art practice. As a person that at times has an “ambiguous identity,” she approaches her art as a visual anthropologist, cataloging her history. Some of her work is overtly political. Passing Between the Lines is Weinberger’s response to the relentless ongoing systems of oppression and abuse in America.

Jesse Wright: Wright is a Jamaican-American interdisciplinary artist whose work is an ongoing meditation on displacement and migration. Layered and fragmented, his visual narratives juxtapose formal figurative elements with abstract gestural ones. Wright forges compelling images of the present human condition, drawing on his inventory of vivid memories of Jamaica and materials he reclaims from America’s urban environment.

Victor Davson: Davson is a Guyanese born American artist. His various bodies of work are heavily influenced by the thinking and anti-colonial politics of the Caribbean. The carnivalesque characters in his Bad Cow Comin series serve as metaphors for the people of the African diaspora who survived transatlantic slavery because of their resiliency.

Akwaaba Gallery is a fine art gallery located in Newark, NJ. The gallery opened on February 15, 2019.  The gallery features contemporary works of art in various mediums. Akwaaba engages the public with exhibitions featuring emerging regional, national, and international artists of diverse backgrounds. The gallery is quickly becoming the commercial art hub of Newark and a welcoming venue for the community and the tri-state area.

Akwaaba Gallery’s mission is to build and maintain a thriving visual arts community by representing and exhibiting emerging contemporary fine artists from diverse and/or underrepresented communities in an environment that is welcoming and accessible to all people.

Akwaaba Gallery’s vision is to become a reliable and noteworthy venue for the exhibition and acquisition of works by emerging local, national, and international fine artists.

 

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