Voices of the Diaspora: The Artisans Behind the Canvas

Selma Burke (1900-1995) is an American sculptor. She discovered her love of the medium as a young child, feeling clay from riverbeds flow through her fingers. In the 1920s she moved to New York city from North Carolina where she became part of the Harlem Renaissance. She traveled to Europe twice, once in 1933 on a Rosenwald Fellowship and again in 1936. While in Paris, she met Henri Matisse who expressed enthusiasm for her work. She is probably most known for a Burke is best known for a bust portrait of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, completed in 1944.  She took art classes at Sarah Lawerence College in New York Burke completed a Master of Fine Arts degree at Columbia University in 1941. 

Shanequa Gay (1978- ) is an American multidisciplinary artist working across painting, installation, and photography. Gay is interested in counter-narratives, mythology, and an expansion of Black imagery. At the center of her work sits multiple universes that expand narratives around Black women.  Gay received her BA in Painting from Savannah College of Art and Design, AA in Graphic Design and Fashion Marketing from the Art Institute of Atlanta, and an MFA from Georgia State University.

Shani Crowe is an American photographer. Her work focuses on Black hair, its adornment and beauty rituals, and how they can foster connection. She is most known for creating intricate corn-rowed hairstyles, and then capturing them as large photographic portraits. Crowe received her BFA in film production from Howard University’s John H. Johnson School of Communications in 2011.

Shannon Bono (1995- ) is a multidisciplinary artist, curator, and cultural writer. She often uses oils, acrylics, and spray paints in her work. Bono is interested in centering Black womanhood and asserting it as a source of knowledge. Common reference points include African spirituality, Christian iconography, and renaissance art. Her various mediums mix meld  Bono received her MA in Art & Science from Central Saint Martins University, her Associate Fellowship in higher education from the University of the Arts London and an MA in Painting from the Royal College of Art.

Shinique Smith (1971- ) is an American artist known for expansive practice including fabric sculptures and abstract paintings incorporating calligraphy and collage. Pulling from personal histories, her work is a documentation of "things".  Smith received a BFA at the Maryland Institute College of Art, She earned a MA in education from Tufts University in 2000 and a MFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art in 2003.

Simphiwe Mbunyuza (1989- ) is a South African ceramicist and sculptor. His sculptures draw heavily from his Xhosa heritage. He uses the coiling technique used for generations by the Xhosa people. Mbunyuza uses all of the sculptures’ surface to recreate cultural scenes, mimic landscapes, and add appendages that represent animal, human, or decorative flourishes.  Mbunyuza received his Masters of Fine Art from The University of Oklahoma and a Fine Art degree from Walter Sisulu University in South Africa.

Soly Cissé (1969-) is a Senegalese painter, draughtsman, and sculptor. Interested in duality he explores the tension between modernity and tradition, man and nature, and the spiritual and the secular. His painting practice is multi-modal, using brush, hand, and knife. His work is known for its thick brushstrokes and fantastical landscapes with animals, humans, and creatures abound. Growing up in Dakar during a time of transition and political unrest, art became a vehicle for social change. Cissé graduated from the École Nationale des Beaux-Arts de Dakar in 1996.

Sonia Boyce, OBE RA (1962- ) is a British-Caribbean visual artist from London, England. She works across painting, film, photography, print, sound and installation. Boyce's work invites the viewers to become active participants in art. She is interested in art as a social practice and the resulting dialogue. Over her career, she has collaborated with many artists, most notably during the British Black Art Movement in the 1980s.  Boyce is a Professor of Black Art and Design at the University of the Arts London. Boyce completed a Foundation Course in Art & Design at East Ham College of Art and Technology in 1980. She received a BA degree in Fine Art at Stourbridge College in 1983. 

Stefan Smith is an American painter and muralist. An accomplished muralist with a keen eye for detail and a deep appreciation for the human experience, Stefan’s work often combines elements of nature, such as foliage, plants, and humans. He seeks to demonstrate the transformative potential of creativity and leave a lasting impact, particularly in underserved communities.

Steven Schmid is a Bahamian multidisciplinary artist. He explores masculinity and otherness through his abstract portraits. Schmid uses collages and paintings to narrate his personal stories and tell a nuanced story of a kind of masculinity.  Schmid received his BFA in Film, Video and Integrated Media from Emily Carr University of Art + Design in 2016 and a MFA in Interdisciplinary Art, Media & Design from Ontario College of Art & Design University in 2022.