Voices of the Diaspora: The Artisans Behind the Canvas

Joy Labinjo (1994- ) is a British-Nigerian painter. Her large-scale paintings depict historic and contemporary scenes, taking inspiration from family photos, found photos, and archival materials. She explores her experiences of growing up Black, British, and Nigerian in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Bold colors and flat brushwork compromise her work as she explores race, community, family, identity, and power.  Labinjo received her MFA from The Ruskin School of Art, The University of Oxford in 2022 UK and her BFA from the University of Newcastle in 2017. 

Juan Roberto Diago (1971- ) is a Cuban mixed media artist, incorporating painting, printmaking, and wood into his work. Racial dynamics in Cuba are a large influence in his work. His work highlights topics that are not given much attention in Cuba, with a large emphasis on the transatlantic slave trade. Many of his works feature a singular expressionless silhouette in his retelling of Cuban history from an expansive perspective. He is a leading member of the new Afro-Cuban cultural movement. Diago studied art at San Alejandro Academy of Fine Arts in Havanna, Cuba in 1990. 

Juana Valdes (1963- ) is a Cuban multidisciplinary artist who works across ceramics, printmaking, video, and installations. She explores themes such as race, gender, class, and migration in her work. Her practice is an archive of her migration experiences as an Afro-Cuban woman through the lens of material culture. ⁠Her mapping of African, Asian, and European, Caribbean migrations complicates and unfurls histories of colonialism. Valdes has a strong interest in material as well, focused on their associations with ideas of the "feminine" and manual labor. Valdes received her BFA in Sculpture from the Parsons School of Design in 1991 and her MFA in Fine Arts from the School of Visual Arts New York City in 1993.

Kapwani Kiwanga (1978- ) is a French-Canadian multidisciplinary artist. Through a rigorous research process, she presents forgotten histories. The tension between historic narratives and contemporary experiences of power imbalances is what she explores in her practice.  Kiwanga studied Anthropology and Comparative Religion at McGill University in Montreal and Art at l’école des Beaux-Arts de Paris.

Kara Walker (1969- ) is an American artist who explores gender, sexuality, violence, and history through silhouetted figures. She uses drawing, painting, text, shadow puppetry, film, and sculpture to examine the ongoing trauma of enslaved Africans.  Walker received her BFA in Painting/Printmaking at the Atlanta College of Art in 1991 and her MFA in Painting/Printmaking from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1994. 

Katesi Jacqueline Kalange (1995- ) is a Ugandan multidisciplinary artist working across sculpture, painting, and performance installation. She uses recycled and upcycled materials to create sustainable sculptures with a community.  Kalange received her Bachelor of Art and Industrial Design from Kyambogo University. 

Keith Piper (1960- ) is a multimedia artist, curator, and researcher.  In the early 1980s, Piper was a founder member of the Blk Art Group a cohort of young artists of African Caribbean descent. They were inspired by the British Black Arts Movement and sought to answer what Black art was and the future for Black artists.  ⁠He established a research-driven approach to his practice prioritizing exploration over an attachment to any particular media. This means he moves from painting to photography to computer technology fairly easily.  Piper received his BA in Fine Art from Trent Polytechnic in Nottingham in 1983. He received his MA in Environmental Media from the Royal College of Art in 1986. He received two honorary doctorates from the University of Wolverhampton and Coventry University in 2002 and 2023 respectively.  ⁠

Kendrick Daye (1987- ) is an American multi-media artist and the creator of the Black Queer Tarot. Daye is interested in exploring Black, queer narratives through his work, most notably known for his collages in both digital and analog formats. Daye's work pulls heavily from Afrofuturusm, imagining a future where Black, queer people are free to express themselves free of fear and judgment. ⁠

Kermit Miller (1973- ) is a Bahamian painter whose works focus on everyday life. His vibrant portraits depict scenes of joy and beauty in daily happenings. 

Kerry James Marshall (1955- ) is an American painter, printmaker, and sculptor. Marshall utilizes a historical approach to his work, engaging with six centuries of Western painting. His figurative works assert Black people into a Western art historical canon. His works often feature subjects with extremely dark skin, an intervention with negative associations with dark skin.  Marshall received his BFA from the Otis Art Institute  in 1978 and later was awarded an honorary doctorate, from the above in 1999.