Voices of the Diaspora: The Artisans Behind the Canvas

Helena Uambembe (1994- ) is an Angolan-South African multidisciplinary artist working with textiles, printmaking, photography, and performance. Her work deals with the relationship between personal politics and global politics. Using her family's history, particularly that of her father, she connects Angolan, South African, and South African history. The 32nd Battalion and her Angolan heritage occur often in her work. Archives, memory, body, and language are starting points for her to explore history and stories. 

Henry Taylor (1958- ) is an American painter who lives and works in Los Angeles, California. Most of his work is figurative, though he does not classify himself as a portrait artist. Subjects appear in his paintings include family members, friends, neighbors, celebrities, politicians, strangers, and psychiatric patients. His work is characterized by its loose brushstrokes and emotional intimacy. These intimate looks seek to condense societal and political affects that can influence a person. His style is a window into daily life in the United States.  Taylor received his BFA from the California Institute for the Arts in 1995.  He also studied at Oxnard College.  ⁠

Honor Titus (1989- ) is an American multidisciplinary artist who works in drawing and painting. Titus’s paintings reference the portraiture of American predecessors like Fairfield Porter, Alex Katz, and Edward Hopper. The Chicago Imagists considered the aesthetics of advertising and modern urban life and the sense of isolation that it created.  Titus renders his subjects in self-contained moments of solitary reflection and intimacy. His paintings place his figures against semi-abstracted, color-blocked compositions that locate them as the centers of their own private worlds. 

Inga Somdyala (1994- ) is a South African multidisciplinary artist. Somdyala works with sculpture, painting, and printmaking, though is less interested in labels. He prefers to let the materials work through/with him in his reckoning with the post-Apartheid generation. His work communicates a deep interest in isiXhosa cultural history and South African political and its intersection with his lived experience.  Somdyala received an MFA (2019) at the University of Cape Town’s Michaelis School of Fine Art.

Iona Rozeal Brown, better known as Rozeal (1996- ) is a painter exploring the cultural exchange between Black Americans and Japan. Her work heavily pulls from ukiyo-e, woodblock prints popular in Japan between the 17th through 19th centuries. During the 1990s she noticed the ganguro trend where Japanese women would bleach their hair, darken their skin, and dress loudly. This along with an early exposure to kabuki theatre, sparked an interest in how Black culture was being consumed globally.  

Sir Isaac Julien CBE RA (1960- ) is a British filmmaker and installation artist. He hopes to break down barriers between different disciplines to create immersive experiences. His work is mined from historical and contemporary events or figures and invites alternative readings of events that build powerful narratives.  Julien received a BA in fine art film from Central Saint Martins School of Art in 1984. He completed his postdoctoral studies at Les entrepreneurs de l'audiovisuel européen in 1989.

José Antônio Cunha (1948- ) is a Brazilian visual artist, graphic designer, scenographer, and costume designer. Cunha is deeply interested in Afro-Indigenous cultures in Brazil and in Northeast Brazil.

J. D 'Okhai' Ojeikere (1930-2014) was a Nigerian photographer. Ojeikere photographed the hairstyles of Nigerian women every day in the street, at the office, at parties, systematically, from behind. Ojeikere preserved an important aspect of Nigerian cultural heritage through this project. 

Jack Whitten (1939-2018) was an American painter from Alabama. His works were informed by African American history, as well as his own life experiences. His pieces are known to have pushed artistic conventions and highlight African American heritage in relation to contemporary identity.  

Jacob Lawrence (1917–2000) was an American painter known for his works detailing contemporary Black life and historical figures and moments.  ‍ Jacob Lawrence's first narrative series, "The Life of Toussaint L'Ouverture," 1936–38, was inspired by Lawrence's desire to celebrate black cultural expression and pride. L'Ouverture was born a slave in 1743. He was part of the rebellion in Haiti from its beginnings and rose to become commander-in-chief of the revolutionary army.