Voices of the Diaspora: The Artisans Behind the Canvas

Jayson Musson (1977- ) is an American artist working across various mediums such as drawing, textile, performance, painting, and music. ⁠Musson has an alter ego, Hennessy Youngman. Through Youngman he explores the hypocrisy of the art world through satire. He is known for his Coogi sweater painting series exploring the relationship "high" art and craft. His works on paper include vibrant colored figures engaging in seems of whimsical folly. Musson received a BFA in photography from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In 2011, he completed an MFA in painting from the University of Pennsylvania.

Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960–1988) was an American artist who worked in the Neo-expressionism movement. He first attracted attention for his graffiti under the moniker "SAMO" in New York City. His paintings reference this early interest in graffiti. Other reoccurring motifs are a crown and skeletons. Much of his work address personal frustrations but was inclusive of Black historical figures, including jazz musicians, sports personalities, and writers. 

Jennifer Packer (1984- ) is an American painter. She creates still lifes, interior scenes, and portraits that speak to a causal intimacy. Her subjects-friends and family-seem unaware of her careful and introspective gaze. Packer's style utilizes loose brushstrokes and linework in a limited color palette. The hazy rendering allows her subjects to meld into the background. Her works call into question the complexity of our personal lives.  Packer received her BFA at the Tyler School of Art at Temple University in 2007. She received her MFA in painting and printmaking at Yale University in 2012. 

Joana Choumali (1974- ) is an Ivorian photographer whose work focuses on conceptual photography and mixed media and explores issues of identity and diversity of African cultures. Choumali embroiders directly on images completing the act of creating the photographed image with a slow and meditative gesture. Her work explores various themes from ancestral histories told through garments to complex, contradictory notions of femininity, beauty, and body image in contemporary Africa.⁠ Choumali is the first African winner of the Prix Pictet, an annual honor for photography and sustainability, which she won in 2019 for her series Ça Va Aller. 

John Abe (1956-2024) was a Nigerian photographer. He ran Abi Morocco Photo, a photography studio in Lagos up until 2006 when he retired. 

John Rhoden (1916-2001) was an American sculptor. He created works in bronze, wood, and stone. He created figurative and abstract sculptures. His practice was influenced by his extensive international travel and naturalistic forms.  Rhoden attended Talladega College, Alabama,  New York School of Art, and Columbia University.

Joiri Minaya (1990- ) is a multidisciplinary Dominican artist. Minaya's interest in the body and the colonial gaze manifests through prints, collage, performance, and installation work. decolonization and her personal experiences inform the lens of her work. Further, she aims to destabilize the notion of an imagined tropical identity through her work. Her prints feature women and tropical, floral designs reinforcing the relationship to the female body and "places of paradise".  Minaya received her Associate’s Degrees from La Escuela Nacional de Artes Visuales in Santo Domingo in 2009 and Altos de Chavón School of Design in 2011. She received her BFA from Parsons New School for Design in 2013. 

Jonathan Lydon Chase (1989- ) is an American interdisciplinary artist who works in painting, video, works on paper, sound, and sculpture. Chase's work centers on Black queer subjectivity. Their expressionist works reflect the interior and exterior realities of the individuals populating the canvas.  MFA, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA 2013 BFA, University of the Arts, Philadelphia, PA 

Jordan Casteel (1989- ) is an American figurative painter. Casteel paints portraits of friends, family members, neighbors, and strangers in the Harlem neighborhood and New York more broadly. Her subjects gaze directly at the viewer asserting their vulnerability and humanity.  Casteel received her Bachelor of Arts from Agnes Scott College, Decatur, GA in 2011 and her Master of Fine Arts in Painting and Printmaking from Yale University, Yale School of Art, New Haven, CT in 2014. 

Jota Mombaça (1991- ) is a Brazilian interdisciplinary artist who describes their practice as “non-disciplinary”.  Their practice is influenced by poetry, critical theory, and performance. Gender exploration and anti-colonial framing underpin all of her work. Through installation and performance, she explores the relation between opacity and self-preservation in the experience of racialized trans artists in the Global Art World. Mombaça received her Bachelor of Social Sciences from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil in 2013. They received their Master’s in Social Sciences from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte in 2017.