Art Fix Friday: July 10, 2020

Blog Category:  Art Fix Friday
A black-and-white photograph of a light-skinned adult woman holding a newspaper with news about World War II. She wears a coat and her short, curly hair is caught in the wind.

Nine photographic prints by the late artist Khadija Saye have been installed on the streets of London—a mile from the site of the Grenfell Tower fire, which took Saye’s life in 2017. Saye’s work is part of “Breath is Invisible,” a new public art project that addresses issues of social inequality and injustice.

Two poster-size black and white photographs, each an artful portrait of a dark-skinned woman with her hand to her face in one, and holding a shell to her ear in the other, occupy the façade of a low white city building.
Khadija Saye, installation view of “in this space we breathe,” part of the exhibition series “Breath is Invisible,” 2020; Image courtesy of the estate of Khadija Saye; Photo by Jeff Moore

Saye’s works often explored her Gambian British identity and traditional Gambian spiritual practices. Her installation coincides with the launch of the Khadija Saye IntoArts Programme, which will support young artists in the UK.

Front-Page Femmes

Artnet profiles illustrator and data journalist Mona Chalabi, whose visualizations help measure the impact of racism.

CultureType reports on a forthcoming retrospective of Emma Amos’s work, set to open in 2021 at the Georgia Museum of Art.

London’s National Portrait Gallery (NPG) announces the newest addition to their collection: a portrait of author Zadie Smith by artist Toyin Ojih Odutola; the two were recently interviewed.

Hyperallergic interviews Jaklin Romine, whose ACCESS DENIED performance series confronts inaccessibility in art spaces.

Art in America features Skawennati, an artist building Indigenous community in the virtual world of Second Life.

Newcity Brazil speaks with Black women artists about the challenges of living and creating in a country where structural racism is not recognized and more.

Artnet profiles the Black women artists who are working to transform the art scenes in Pittsburgh, Cleveland, and Detroit—cities deemed least hospitable to Black women.

Nneka Jones won the first-place prize in the 2020 Contemporary Fiber in Florida juried exhibition for her work Dartboard Target (2020).

An embroidered portrait on canvas of a young medium-dark skinned girl from the shoulders up. She looks directly at the viewer; her face has the pattern of a dart board on it. Her shirt is made from bright red thread, which hangs off the bottom of the canvas loosely.
Nneka Jones, Dartboard Target (2019); Hand-embroidery on canvas; © Nneka Jones

Photographer Margaret Morton, whose work reveals “the deeply human need to nest and embellish regardless of circumstance,” has died at age 71.

CultureType profiles artists and educators Hilda Wilkinson Brown and Lilian Thomas Burwell on the occasion of a new documentary about their relationship.

Frieze speaks with Yvette Mutumba, curator at the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, about pursuing decolonization within the museum.

The New York Times features artist Aya Brown and her “Essential Worker” series, a collection of intimate and empowering portraits of Black women.

Author Jasmine Guillory emphasizes the importance of fiction by Black women authors.

MadameNoir interviews painter Melissa Mitchell about her work and career: “I feel like I’m opening the doors for people who have given up on their dreams.”

Shows We Want to See—Online Edition

Liberty Bell, a series of augmented reality drawings by Nancy Baker Cahill that challenge viewers to rethink notions of liberty, are “installed” in six noteworthy locations around the United States. The New York Times covers the virtual exhibition, which can be experienced using Baker Cahill’s app, 4th Wall, until July 2021.

A red, white, and blue mass of swirling, gestural lines roughly forms the shape of a large bell. The graphic floats against a blue sky above a long, artificial pool; the white obelisk of the Washington Monument stands in the background, obscured by the floating drawing.
Nancy Baker Cahill, Liberty Bell, 2020; Augmented reality drawing; installation view in Washington, D.C.; Courtesy Art Production Fund; Photo by Joy Asico/BFA

Contemporary Calgary presents hyper(in)visibility, a discussion between seven Asian women artists on the topics of racism, representation, and tokenism in relation to the Black Lives Matter movement and the pandemic. Hyperallergic features the panel, which is organized by stephanie mei huang and includes Pearl C Hsiung, Maia Ruth Lee, Astria Suparak, Stephanie Syjuco, Hồng-Ân Trương, and Christine Tien Wang. The online event will take place on Tuesday, July 14 at 4:30 p.m. Eastern.

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