Voices of the Diaspora: The Artisans Behind the Canvas

Philomé Obin (1892-1986) was a Haitian painter. He depicted daily life as well as Haiti's complex history. His flat style is insight into public space in Haiti. He is one of the founders of the  Cap-Haitien school of painting (named for the community in the north of the country). 

Prince Gyasi Nyantakyi (1995- ) is a Ghanaian photographer. He is co-founder of Boxedkids, a non-profit organization helping kids from Accra get an education. Prince Gyasi's hallmark style includes colorful and emotional photographs depicting life in Accra, Ghana—all taken with his iPhone. His choice of bold, bright backgrounds highlights the beauty of Black skin. 

Purvis Young (1943-2010) was a Bahamian-American artist. A self-taught artist, Young had an interest in art as a child and revisited it as a young adult. A voracious reader, he was inspired by artists such as Vincent van Gogh, Paul Gauguin, El Greco, Honoré Daumier, and Pablo Picasso. Young painted on wooden panels frequently. His work is characterized by its expressionist syle, works guided by his "inner eyes". He often explored race and the human condition in his work. 

Rachel Jones (1991- ) is a British artist who uses sound, performance, painting, and installation to explore psychological truths through abstraction. Jones grapples with the challenges of finding visual means to convey existential concepts. She replicates symbols to create associative relationships as part of her ongoing investigation of identity and abstract representation of the internal structures of Black life. Jones' work relates the various ways the Black body has been depicted through history and pushes past modes of figurative representation. 

Radcliffe Bailey (1968-2023) was an American multidisciplinary artist who worked across painting, sculpting, and mixed media. A deep interest in African American and Southern histories informs his work.  Using religion, music, baseball, slavery, and Atlanta’s rich history pertaining to both the American Civil War and the civil rights movement of the 1960s Bailey created installations that probed African diasporic histories. He often used old family photos and piano keys in works that were personal yet accessible.  Bailey received his BFA from the Atlanta College of Art in 1991. 

Rashid Johnson (1977- ) is an American artist from Chicago. His work often depicts a range of mediums, such as sculpture, painting, drawing, filmmaking, and installation. They showcase historical occurrences, philosophy, cultural viewpoints, and his narrative. Much of his work explores themes of race and class pulled from autobiographical and broader Black American life.  Johnson received a BFA in photography from Columbia College Chicago in 2000 and an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2005. 

Reginald O’Neal (L.E.O.) (1992- ) is an American painter. O'Neal typically utilizes a dark, muted palette in his portraits. Much of his work features his family, community, and experiences. They are his personal experiences but lend themselves to a broader Black experience. O'Neal sometimes mediates on themes of death and decay as an unfortunate point of life. Currently, his work focuses on his community and beliefs. 

Renell Medrano (1992- ) is a Dominican-American commercial and artistic photographer and director. Medrano seeks to get to the "truth" of her subjects. Past subjects include Kendell Jenner, Kylie Jenner, Kendrick Lamar, and the Venus sisters. She has been creating images since she was a teenager. In addition to her work with musical artists, she creates work exploring her Dominican heritage.  Medrano received her BFA in Photography at Parsons The New York School for Design. 

René Peña (1957- ) is a Cuban photographer. Peña has been taking photographs since he was a child. He shoots primarily in black and white is focused on duality duality between human inability to escape institutionalization and human desire for individualism. Individuals all exist within systems -- family, religion, class, etc. despite a belief that individuals possess boundless freedom.  René Peña graduated from the University of Havana with a specialization in English.

René Tavares (1983-  ) is a São Tomean multidisplinary artist working across photography, video, painting, drawing, and installation. Grounded in a rigorous research practice, Tavares focuses on social and political issues experience in African countries. He questions forgotten and neglected heritages hallenging the rigidity of categories and prejudices through abstract, gestural, and figuration works.  Tavares holds a Bachelor's in Fine Arts and Visual Arts from the Dakar School of Fine Arts, Senegal, a postgraduate degree in Visual Arts, Painting and Photography from the Rennes School of Fine Arts, France, and a Master's in Art and Heritage Sciences from the Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Lisbon Portugal.