Image & Africology

Online Gallery

“Image and Africology,” opens March 7 at The Collective with a reception from 3 to 5 p.m. The exhibit, which runs through April 18, is one of the participating spaces for Fotofest Biennial 2020. The exhibition displays images by photographers Derrick Bey, Sinden Collier, Colby Deal, Christie Leday, Gail Mallory, Marc Newsome and Mel Perry who explore their fellowship with the diaspora and discuss the ways we all deal with cultural deference.

Curator Dominic R. Clay states that “Although we are separated between land and language with massive bodies of water in between us, the African Diaspora never seemed to be so close. Tethered between continents, we are all blood bound. Common expressions tie us together linking all of us to a common future. “In our past” he continues, “as African Americans, we dealt with a theoretical phenomenon W.E.B. Du Bois called ‘double consciousness.’ However, this concept has been reconstituted into something bigger and more complex.

Today, the world is much smaller than it was yesterday, giving us the ability to keep one another at arm’s length. This is not simply an exhibition, but it is a love letter to Mother Africa and an homage to all of our ancestors who nurtured her.”

Sinden Collier

“Woman of Heart & Mind” springs from the desire to experience what lies beneath the surface of images and to engage a wide range of emotions. In particular, this project celebrates the female sensuality and honors the feminine consciousness. It’s not about capturing what the camera sees, it about creating what I see. My art is inspired by the exploration to go beyond the literal representation of a scene or subject. In that regard, I choose to use multiple layers including a vintage overlay most times to produce ethereal imagery. I invite the viewer “To truly see, instead of merely looking.”

D- Arthur

The work created by me is an expression of the soul. Very often, I am commented that I capture the true essence of the individual who is front of my lens. Being honest and humble, I don't disagree. My work reminds me of an upper reality!

Sudan 2.JPG — Sudan

Derrick Bey
digital print 22“x28”
$650

Mel Perry

My contribution to the Image and Africology exhibition is four photos from my last trip to Kenya in 2017. These four photographs were taken in 2 different regions of Kenya and include three very different tribes (Samubrua, Kikuyu, and Maasai) - Samburu County in Northen Kenya and a small village near the town of Mwea in Central Kenya. These four pieces focus on the children in rual communities. One of the great things about color photography in most countries in Africa is the abundance of colors that are always seen, from the clothing (tradtional and western) to the rich red earth.

Christie Leday

Each of my photographs depicts people in their natural environments whether teaching, worshipping, praying, or conversing. In each photograph, I aimed to simply be present while capturing the emotion of the moment. I hope my work in someway uplifts, inspires, or encourages the viewer.

young black and Catholic.jpg — Young, Black & Catholic

Christie Leday
digital print 21”x14”
$300

Marc Newsome

My commitment to public engagement is one that seeks what is in the people’s hearts. I then make that part of my art. I desire to create spaces for the people to congregate and discuss and share thoughts – my art being a spark for discussion.My fundamental desire is to expand what the viewer may have only noticed peripherally but never gave major thought to it. I search for the unseen layers of existence and create a source of revelation. There lies the groove: the profundity of the peripheral - the micro story being a major statement. My vehicles of choice for communication have been through the categories of aesthetic visual video and landscape still images, soundscape recordings, and satire comedy. All my compositions possess life, personality and emotion: be they human, building, topic, or inanimate object. Everything and everyone has a place. A life.

Colby Deal

Under sourced communities and people of color are under explicit cultural erasure, through photography and a family of mediums I preserve these cultural characteristics that are being erased. The process of preservation serves as a vehicle from present to past through a creation of experiences. The texture of an elegant dress helps mother reflect on her childhood and now she’s prompted of pearls to pass onto her daughter, a father informs his son about land ownership after viewing a photograph of an abandoned house, a piece of furniture reminds a grandchild of how grandmother took care of the entire family in her tiny home; place a piece of this art in the proper area of a community, self-appreciation and positive influence increases, and possibly the revenue of a small business next door because of curious traffic from social media postings. Each of those experiences endorse the future as a result of the past. In the age of imagery and information leading the forefront of altering humanity, the psychological effect of perpetuating practical narratives of a culture fuels my curiosity to search for and present the most accurate one. A communal repertoire and visual bond are executed through lens-based work, while the root concept of preservation is carried out with each individual presentation of the lens-based work. The qualities of imagery and presentation are crucial when conducting interactive studies in a community to observe the psychosis of society based on imagery and placement.

The Magnolia Tree.jpg — The Magnolia Tree

Colby Deal
Wood, Polyurethane, Paper 4’x6’
$4000

Gail P. Mallory

I am an artist/photographer and have been working in this medium for 20 years. In the past year I incorporated photography in my first solo exhibition My Journal My Journey (2019). I shared images from my inaugural trip to Africa which included Ghana, Benin and Togo. During my trip to Africa we visited Ganvie Lake Village (Stilt City) in Cotonou, Benin. The images were captured during the early morning as the villagers headed to the market and while fisherman prepared for the “Big Catch”. In this work, I selected three images taken while we traveled by boat to the lake community.

It is rumored that during the Brazilian colonization in the 16 th and 17 th century, runaway slaves and free natives escaped into the Amazon evading capture by the West African Fon tribe, by building a community on the lake. The images were printed on film and layered to create a three-dimensional effect in a floating LED backlit frame. My goal with this piece was to visually connect the viewer by stacking three images to give the illusion that it was only one. The absence of color in the prints assisted in re- creating the mood of the morning, gray, quiet and subtle. Which allowed the water vegetation to come forward in appearance to give the intended visual affect. I am passionate about the possibilities that this medium provides for me to incorporate art with photography to tell a story about our community. With the use of graphic design tools and my creative instinct, I can transform many images into a mini collage to develop a new idea.

Where the spirit does not work with the hand, there is no art. – Leonardo Da Vinci