By Iminza Keboge
Published July 26, 2019
Sixteen multi-disciplinary artists from Africa, South America, North America and Europe have been selected for a 10-month international artist-in-residence programme in West Africa.
Black Rock Senegal, the programme developed by a leading African-American artist called Kehinde Wiley, says the artists selected for its inaugural year shall between August 2019 and April 2020 live and work in Dakar, Senegal.
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Black Rock Senegal, that is located on the westernmost point of Africa, says it received more than 700 applications from around the world from which it selected the 16 for the first year of the programme that seeks to ‘to incite change in the global discourse around West Africa in the context of creative evolution’.
The residency brings together international artists to live and work in the Senegalese capital, Dakar, for 1-3 month stays.
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“Black Rock residents are provided room, board, individual studio space, a local staff to aid in navigating Dakar and a language tutor to assist with English, French, and Wolof– the three primary languages of the program. Residents are also supported by a stipend for incidentals and additional art supplies,” the organisers of the programme say in a statement.
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The selected artists for Black Rock 2019 – 2020 are: Tunji Adeniyi-Jones (UK, Painting), Laurence Bonvin (Switzerland, Film), Sonya Clark (USA, Sculpture), Yagazie Emezi (Nigeria, Photography), Nona Faustine (USA, Photography), Devin B. Johnson (USA, Painting), Heather Jones (USA, Textiles), Grace Lynne (USA, Painting), Zanoxolo Sylvester Mqeku (South Africa, Sculpture), Kelechi Njoku (Nigeria, Writing), Chelsea Odufu (USA, Film), Kambui Olujimi (USA, Mixed Media), Zohra Opoku (Ghana, Mixed Media), Rafael RG (Brazil, Mixed Media), Tajh Rust (USA, Painting) and Ytasha Womack (USA, Film).
Kehinde Wiley, the brains behind the Black Rock initiative, is reported to be ‘the first African-American artist to paint an official US Presidential portrait for the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery. Former US President Barack Obama selected Wiley for this honor. Wiley has held solo exhibitions at Brooklyn Museum, Jewish Museum in New York, Columbus Museum of Art, and Studio Museum in Harlem. His works are included in the collections of numerous public institutions’.
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“At the core of Kehinde Wiley’s practice,” the organisers of the Black Rock residency say, “is an analysis of the intersecting points between cultural and aesthetic values and existing historical narratives. In this charged moment, these discourses reveal how relations of power produce, sustain, and reinforce particular interpretations of transcultural exchanges and subject positions.”
