Exhibitions

Zohra Opoku: Harmattan Tales is still on view at Mariane Ibrahim Gallery in Seattle, United States until March 17, 2018

Harmattan Tales is a utopian exploration of the cityscape by connecting to Muslim women in Accra, Ghana and discovering life in the city through their lens. Opoku explores these women’s personal beliefs and narratives, their acts of veiling and unveiling inherent to their daily rituals, movements in and out of public and private spaces, and the ways in which these movements influence their activities and responsibilities, regardless of age, marital or family status. Opoku’s personal narrative is in great contrast to Harmattan Tales. Depicted in Unraveled Thread, which debuted and garnered a prize at the 2017 Armory Show, Opoku evoked her personal story of featuring family photographs, personal correspondence and a decoding of untold stories. Harmattan Tales is indeed the inverse: it is vehicle for the artist’s self-exploration via the intimacy of otherness. This body of work reveals an intricate set of social dynamics, which are shrouded in secrecy for those outside of their circles.

Kara Walker & Hank Willis Thomas: Black Box is still on view at Baltimore Museum of Art in Baltimore, United States until March 18, 2018

The Baltimore Museum of Art's Black Box brings together separate works by Kara Walker and Hank Willis Thomas, two artists who, over the course of their careers and in multiple disciplines, have been interrogating what it is like and what it means to be black in America. Salvation by Kara Walker, one of the most significant works in the museum’s contemporary collection, and And I Can’t Run by Hank Willis Thomas, a recent promised gift to the museum, start a critical conversation on slavery’s legacy. Salvation (2000) is a cut-paper installation depicting a black silhouetted woman about to drown in a swamp as ominous shadows threaten her. And I Can't Run (2013) is a photographic piece that doesn't look like much at first until you take a picture of it with your cell phone using a flash to reveal a black man shackled before aggressive white onlookers.

This Synthetic Moment is still on view at David Nolan Gallery in New York, United States until March 10, 2018

Centered on photographic practices, this group exhibition reflects on the current global phenomenon described as “a crisis of borders” by the curator David Hartt. Liz Johnson Artur’s images focus on the representation of people of African descent in London, while James Barnor’s photographs reflect on transitional societies in post-war Britain of the 1960s and subsequently in post-colonial Ghana of the 1970s. Kwame Brathwaite captured the new political ideas of the 1950s and 1960s in New York, which appeared in form of photographs on flyers and in magazines, while Christopher Williams’s work critically examines the medium of photography and the development of industrial culture. Zoe Leonard uses a serial approach to inspire subtle changes of perspective and observation to draw attention towards the meanings hidden behind familiar images. David Hartt’s photographs represent the artist’s exploration of Russian territory Sakhalin Island. His works featuring the marginal geographic locations and their communities presents a critical viewpoint of how human beings function in society.

Art Fairs

The Armory Show 2018 will open at Piers 92/94 in New York, United States from March 8-11, 2018

The 24th edition of the Armory Show will combine a selection of the world’s leading galleries—nearly 200 of them from 30 countries around the world—with an unsurpassed program of art events and exhibitions at the fair venue and throughout New York City. The fair will present artworks that range from historical masterpieces to the latest contemporary projects by established and emerging artists. The Insights section is dedicated to 20th-century works, highlighting modern and postwar pieces, while the Presents section plays host to galleries younger than 10 years. The Focus section, curated by Gabriel Ritter, will present solo as well as dual-artist presentations. The Platform section, titled “The Contingent” and curated by Jen Mergel, will house large-scale and site-responsive installations and commissions. Among the highlights are Kapwani Kiwanga at Paris’s Galerie Jérôme Poggi, Wilmer Wilson IV at Washington, D.C.’s Connersmith, and Emma Amos at New York’s Ryan Lee.

Conference

March Meeting 2018 will open at Sharjah Art Foundation in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates from March 17-19, 2018

This year’s edition of March Meeting, entitled Active Forms, will address issues of resistance through the consideration of organising as a primary act and condition for artistic and cultural production. Examining the relationship between familiar forms, such as projects, exhibitions and conferences, and the informal activity from which these emerge, MM 2018 explores how organising enables us to conceptualise resistance not only as a practice of “standing against” but also one of ongoing exchange and future planning. Further, MM 2018 will reassess notions of authorship and agency through the lens of art, writing, film, music, performance and architecture, which inspire new ways of catalysing thoughts and actions.