SARATOGA SPRINGS — The Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery at Skidmore College announces the exhibition Africa Pop Studio will be the location of two special events this month.
Africa Pop Studio explores the rich traditions and variations within African studio portraiture and considers its impact on the broader diaspora. Positioning the Malian photographer Malick Sidibé as a source and touchstone for a new generation of artists such as Moroccan artist Hassan Hajjaj and American artist Mickalene Thomas, among others, the exhibition evokes the mood of an African photography studio — a space of vibrant pattern and posed bodies.
Africa Pop Studio constitutes the senior thesis project for Art History major Hannah Traore ’17. This exhibition is supported by the Carter-Rodriguez Fund for Student Curated Projects and the Friends of the Tang. The exhibition is open through Sunday, April 23.
The exhibition will be the location of the next talk in the Tang’s Accelerator Series “Migration and Borders — Visible and Invisible Walls“ on Thursday, April 20, at 6:30 p.m. The conversation about international movements of people aims to go beyond political boundaries to explore issues of identity, citizenship, and what it means to be human. Speakers include will be with Hajjaj; Irish conceptual documentary photographer Richard Mosse; author, artist, and activist Tanya Selvaratnam; and moderated by Tang Curator-at-Large Isolde Brielmaier.
Africa Pop Studio culminates in the Tang’s Spring Celebration and Reception, featuring an evening of music, dance, spoken word, and West African fashions, on Saturday April 22, starting at 5 p.m. Performances by Skidmore College students and student groups include step dance by Ujima; spoken word by Rashawnda Williams; DJ-ing by Merkeb Tesfa; and a performance by Royal Court African Dance Group. The exhibition If I Had Possession Over Judgement Day: Collections of Claude Simard also opens on that day.
All events are free and open to the public.
For more information, call 518-580-8080 or visit the Tang Museum website.
