Dialogues: A Preview of The View From Here
with Laylah Amatullah Barrayn and Joseph L. Underwood
moderated by Ibou Ibrahima Ndoye
Wednesday, July 17, 2019, 7:30pm
The View From Here will be on view at the Zuccaire Gallery (SUNY Stony Brook University) from July 18-27 and August 26-October 12, with an Opening Reception on July 20, 5-7PM. The exhibition is accompanied by a full calendar of events; for more information, please visit the Zuccaire Gallery website.
FREE with RSVP.
LAYLAH AMATULLAH BARRAYN has participated in a number of exhibitions, including projects with the Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts (MoCADA, Brooklyn), the Museum of Contemporary Photography, (Chicago), and the 2018 MANIFESTA European Biennial of Contemporary Art (Palermo, Italy). Though not a native of Senegal, Barrayn has developed a deep relationship with the country, as is evident in her celebrated Baye Fall series which depicts the lively garments and rites of the Sufi spiritualistic community in Touba. Alongside her artistic efforts, Barrayn is a photographer for the New York Times and the founder/co-editor of MFON: Women Photographers of the African Diaspora.
JOSEPH L. UNDERWOOD is Assistant Professor of Art History for Africa and the Diaspora at Kent State University. His research focuses on networks created by artists from Senegal as they employ different platforms to engage the global art world between 1960 and the present. He has contributed to exhibition projects at various museums in the U.S. and Senegal and maintains an active curatorial practice. Publications on modern and contemporary arts from Africa can be found in African Arts and World Art, with forthcoming chapters in an edited volume on African-American filmmaker William Greaves and a new Oxford University Press textbook.
Born in West Africa’s most progressive capital city, Dakar, Senegal, glass-painting artist IBRAHIMA NDOYE has combined modernism and traditionalism to create a style unique to himself. Ibrahima, commonly known as “Ibou,” grew up as the oldest child of a family of four boys in the suburbs of Dakar. Ibou’s mother made her living as a dressmaker while his grandmother worked as a tie-dye artist. Regularly surrounded by colorful African textiles and fabrics, it is not surprising that Ibou says he “socialized with art and cohabited with colors” from a very young age. Now Ibou resides in Jersey City, New Jersey, and regularly exhibits his art both locally and internationally in addition to holding glass painting workshops at libraries and schools. Ibou intends to continue promoting and expanding his artistic vision through exhibition, education and cultural exchange.
