Five Afro-Caribbean artists explore body, family, identity at KSU

The figure is almost amphibian, colored in a wash of aquamarine, yellow-orange, pink and lavender that could blend into any tropical waterscape. She could be a siren. She could be a deity. And such fluidity captures one of the main themes of “{UNDER}flow,” the Zuckerman’s latest exhibit, through Dec. 9.

The exhibit is a celebration of five internationally hailed Afro-Caribbean artists who also share their sense of place and memory in the works.

“These artists are important, and, considering global events, it’s critical that what they have to say is finally being acknowledged,” Thompson said. “We hope that introducing audiences to these contemporary artists will prompt valuable discussions about history, cultural geography, race, gender and identity.”

The show explores fluidity and struggle beneath the surface, Thompson said, “including power and control, diasporic experiences, perceived histories and sexuality. This exhibit is so powerful because it’s figurative, it’s about the body and we as viewers automatically connect with that.”

Photographer Josué Azor documents stunning Haitian rituals and pockets of community like queer nightlife. Mixed-media painter Didier William, also from Haiti, merges myths, history and personal narrative into unconventional bodies that question Black queer identity. Báez, a Dominican Republic-born, New York City-based painter and sculptor, places imaginative creatures in different universes to signal healing and resistance.

Multidisciplinary works by María Magdalena Campos-Pons, a leading figure in the New Cuban Art movement, a professor at Vanderbilt University and a performance artist, reveal ancestral stories of survival. And David Antonio Cruz, a North Philadelphia native with Puerto Rican roots, has autobiographical paintings drenched in nods to literature, fashion and pop culture while honoring the bond of chosen family.

Credit: Courtesy of Firelei  Báez and James Cohan

Credit: Courtesy of Firelei  Báez and James Cohan

“A lot of his work is about home and family,” Thompson said, pointing out the ceiba trees in Cruz’s darker works of shadowy figures emerging from, or vanishing into, the forest. Ceiba trees are found throughout the Caribbean, Mexico and West Africa. “The foreground and background changes as you look closer, representing the compression and expansion of time and space and how that also relates to family and growing older.”

In contrast, the chosen-family portraits are bursting with color. Green and blue limbs bounce off animal prints, polka dots and other patterns worn by pairs or groups of people who are entangled with each other. The strings of pearls and antique sofas they rest on bring a polished, classical flair. Then there’s whimsy in their expressions and tenderness in the ways their hands and bodies touch.

“There’s a staged, performative aspect to it,” said Thompson, adding that Cruz began as a performance artist. “He plays with perspective, the flattening of space and again the fluidity that also relates to gender expression. A lot of our students who are queer really gravitate to his work. They see themselves represented.”

The eyes — or what is perceived by sight — are also a driving theme in the exhibit.

Shapeshifters (as in Báez’ “Fragrant”) have no noses, lips or ears — only eyes. The untitled Campos-Pons piece, a lithograph on paper showing the artist in performance, shows mostly blue and green eyes crowded across her silhouette. Eyes are also in the background, suggesting the pressure of inquisition — and judgment or perhaps fascination — from every direction.

Credit: Courtesy of Zuckerman Museum of Art

Credit: Courtesy of Zuckerman Museum of Art

Eyes are especially present in William’s pieces. “He developed the eye motif in 2014 to return some of the gaze back to the viewer,” Thompson said. “It’s about the gaze upon the Black body and being ‘othered.’”

Using printmaking techniques, William paints on wood, making his works a blend of carving and painting. In most of his paintings, rows of tiny eyes form the entire body. The bodies are massive, mysterious and are “made deliberately queer by refusing explicit sex and gender signifiers,” William writes.

His childhood in Miami surfaces in the environments he paints, like the marshland in “Cursed Grounds: Louisiana Purchase” or the raging waters of “Baptism: We Cannot Drown, Nou Beni.” (“Non Beni” means “We Are Blessed,” in Haitian Creole.)

“Cursed Grounds: Blessed Bones,” a copperplate print, is a slice of William’s recent venture into more obvious nature scenes. An endless blob-like figure made of eyes seems to crawl out of layers of earth, like the cultural histories that have been buried and left stirring underground.

“There’s often a line of demarcation above and below the surface,” Thompson said. In “Baptism,” there is “this struggle of not necessarily drowning but trying to breathe.”

William doesn’t see the figures as singular bodies, though, so those lines beyond the environmental elements aren’t always clear. It’s a reflection of the distance that can exist between the psychological and physical bodies, he writes. The science fiction elements of his work pay homage to Haitian culture and mythology.

“{UNDER}flow” also includes Interchange, an annual collaboration of faculty from all disciplines in the College of the Arts on Tuesday, Oct. 10. It is free and open to the public.

“It’s a performance in response to the artwork, so I’m excited to see their interpretation,” Thompson said. “It’s a fun way to share diverse perspectives.”

EXHIBIT PREVIEW

“{UNDER}flow”

Through Dec. 9. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesdays-Fridays; noon to 5 p.m. Saturdays. Free. Kennesaw State University’s Zuckerman Museum of Art, 492 Prillaman Way, Kennesaw. 470-578-3223, kennesaw.edu/arts.

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Angela Oliver is a proud native of old Atlanta who grew up in the West End. A WKU journalism and Black studies grad, daily news survivor and member of Delta Sigma Theta, she works in the grassroots nonprofit world while daydreaming about seeing her scripts come alive on the big screen.

Credit: ArtsATL

Credit: ArtsATL

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ArtsATL (www.artsatl.org), is a nonprofit organization that plays a critical role in educating and informing audiences about metro Atlanta’s arts and culture. Founded in 2009, ArtsATL’s goal is to help build a sustainable arts community contributing to the economic and cultural health of the city.If you have any questions about this partnership or others, please contact Senior Manager of Partnerships Nicole Williams at nicole.williams@ajc.com.