Bronx River Art Center (BRAC) - Diasporic Dysplasia exhibition opens March 11th at BRAC

 

Bronx River Art Center (BRAC) Presents: DIASPORIC DYSPLASIA March 11th - April 16th, 2022 With a live reception, Friday, March 11th from 6:30 - 8:00 PM  Bronx River Art Center (BRAC) is pleased to announce the presentation of, DIASPORIC DYSPLASIA, curated by Toisha Tucker. The exhibition will open to the public with a live reception at limited capacity on Friday evening, March 11th at 6:30 pm and run through Saturday, April 16th. The artists featured in the exhibition are: Lorena Cruz Santiago, Meital Yaniv, Sarah Tortora, Slinko, Unyimeabasi Udoh and Yasmeen Nematt Alla.

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Send her back. The lands we live on have never been anything to many of us other than home. Yet, it is on the soils of these countries where many of us exist as Other. The ideals that drive nationalism are not founded on notions of a full spectrum of colors, but instead a devout homogeneity to an abstracted cultural ideal. Within these borders, there are those of us who get to be Americans or Canadians or British full stop and also get to be German, French etc. and there are those of us who get to be hyphens: African-American, Mexican-American, British-Nigerian etc. Our nomenclature sets us apart as not wholly part of our birthrights-we are dashed halves. We are people who can be sent back. Diasporic Dysplasia explores the space of living and thriving within a multiplicity of cultural identities whether as immigrant or natural born citizen on soils of diasporas, firm and figurative. The abnormalities in self-perception that can emerge in that struggle to navigate the penumbra of who we are when we are many things, but also maybe none. This exhibition delves into the way some of us deal with this tension in manners that aren’t normative to the structures of our cultures-dysphasic and displaced from ourselves, other within the Other.  The works on display in Diasporic Dysplasia include Lorena Cruz Santiago’s intimately stark video Do You/Did You, Meital Yaniv’s burdensome concrete cast of five years of papers from their US visa application, ephemera from the 12-hour durational performance Monsters In Their Eyes and their topographic projection of assimilation bloodlines, Sarah Tortora’s romantic prop-like sculpture Yolanda and Vessel Piece made from paper pulp, resin, wood, and found geodes/mineral deposits that conflates human scale at its most essential with a scale of geological history impossible to fathom, Slinko’s winsome video Ghost Looking for its Spirit which parses failures and aspirations of communism against the backdrop of American landscape, Unyimeabasi Udoh’s series of ephemeral photographs Topographic representation of: which conflate familial Nigerian, British and American histories into a layered recounting of the punitive expedition of Arochukwu, and Yasmeen Nematt Alla’s Culture Tablets which play with the impossibility of the production of “culture pills” that allow for a daily dose of easy cultural assimilation. To learn more about the exhibition visit: https://diasporicdysplasia.tumblr.com/ Please join us on March 31st for two virtual artist talks: one at 1pm with artists Meital Yaniv and Unyimeabasi Udoh and another 6pm with artists Lorena Cruz Santiago, Sarah Tortora and Yasmeen Nematt Alla. Please visit our eventbrite at http://bracbx.eventbrite.com/ to RSVP for the link. About the curator: Tucker is an interdisciplinary conceptual artist and writer. They hold a BA from Cornell University and a MFA from the University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Design. They are an AIR at Andrew Freedman Home in the Bronx and will be in residence at Marble House Project this fall. Tucker was a 2021 NYC Artist Corps Grantee, 2020 Bronx Council on the Arts BRIO awardee and the 2018-2019 Alice C. Cole Fellow at Wellesley College. Tucker is an Affiliated Fellow of the American Academy in Rome, AIR Alumni of the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, ACRE, Ellis-Beauregard Foundation. Their published work is in the Vassar Review and nonsensical. Their curated shows include Diasporic Dysplasia and Persist. They have exhibited in Rosendale, Omaha, Catskill, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Boston, Los Angeles, Chicago, New York and Verona. Tucker resides in the Bronx with their partner, their thriving aloe plant named Wednesday and a fiddle leaf fig named Newton. You can see more of their work at toishatucker.com.

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COVID-19 vaccination proof requirements have expanded to include younger children and to require full vaccination: Children: Children ages 5 to 11 are now required to have proof of vaccination for the public indoor activities. They must show they have received at least one dose of a vaccine. Full Vaccination: People 12 and older participating in public indoor activities are now required to show proof they have received two vaccine doses, except for those who have received the one dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. Starting January 29, 2022, children ages 5 to 11 must also show proof of full vaccination. Attendees will also be required to be masked.

This program is made possible with support from the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, including the Bronx Delegation. Additional support is from Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson, the NYS Council on the Arts with support from Governor Kathy Hochul and the NYS Legislature including Senator Luis R.  Sepúlveda. Foundation support is from Con Edison: The Power of Giving, BronxCare Health System, New York Community Trust and private donors.