B.1982
Lives and work in Lagos and New York
Before studying art, Udondian trained as a tailor and fashion designer. Her work is driven by her interest in textiles and the potential for clothing to shape identity, informed by the histories and tacit meanings embedded in everyday materials. Drawing from her experiences growing up in Nigeria, she engages with West African textiles and repurposed Western material to investigate how fundamental changes in fabric can affect one’s perception of his or her identity, and ultimately a nation’s psyche.
Udondian is currently enrolled as an MFA candidate at Columbia University in New York City. She studied at the University of Uyo, Nigeria graduating with a BA in Painting in 2004. She won, Most Outstanding Production Award at the National Arts Competition in Lagos, 2013.
Her works have been exhibited internationally at Judith Charles Gallery, New York, 2015; Art 14 London Art Fair, 2014; Whitworth gallery in Manchester, 2012; Bagfactory Studios in Johannesburg, South Africa, Centre for Contemporary Arts (CCA), Lagos, Nigeria, 2010.
Artist Residencies include Villa Straulli, Winthethur, Switzerland, 2014; The Foundation for contemporary Art, Accra, Ghana, 2013, Islinton Mill, Salford, Manchester, 2012; Fondazione di Venezie, Venice, Italy 2011, Bagfactory Artist Studios, Johanesburg, South Africa 2011; Triangle Arts Trust Artist Residency in Nigeria, 2010.
Born in Panama, Underdog came to DC at age seven with his mother and set down strong weirdo/subcultural roots in the Nation’s Capitol. He sees as two of the same thing. A mix of all genres and new aesthetics without conformity.
Underdog’s sets traverse the globe and delve in futurism on many levels. Bringing “New Aesthetic” to DC/NY over and over, Underdog’s recent acclaim stems from his UNSEEN mixtape series which have expanded his listening audience and placed him outside of any playlist or genre-defined role. He’s played festivals, and has shared the stage with artists like Femi Kuti, Sango, Common, Black Coffee, Seun Kuti, A Tribe Called Red and Questlove. From Afropunk to almost every major festival in NYC, DJ Underdog is currently holding down residencies with OKAYAFRICA DC, ELECTRAFRIQUE NYC and FUTURE R & BASS.
ODDKINCREATE showcases the diverse portfolio of a ‘Creative Kin’ that are connected through their love of Art & Design. Collaborating with various artists, brands & organisations to promote creativity and inspirational art through many design mediums, including Fashion, Print, Graphic Design, Illustration & Music.
The creator of OKCreate is a UK based Surface Decoration & Print Designer. A self proclaimed visual junkie since childhood. “Im still very much in love with the idea of people coming together in real life to make connections. Have conversations, be inspired to take action to build & maintain our communities. Art has always been my excuse to do this.”
Charles Jean-Pierre is a Haitian-American painter and educator who is best known for his introspective murals. He is a U.S. State Department Art in Embassies Artist. His work is currently on display in the U.S. Embassy in Cotonou, Benin, West Africa.
Jean-Pierre has created public art in Chicago, DC, Istanbul, Port-au-Prince, London, and Paris. He began experimenting with art at an early age by creating visual narratives based on classical paintings from his homeland. His work speaks to the nexus of political, social, and economic structures. They are a blend of artistic styles that span from multimedia collages to conceptual designs. He often incorporates graffiti, folk, and multimedia into his paintings. Jean-Pierre holds a Masters of Arts from Howard University.
Delphine Fawundu is interested in identities that internalize and counteract the socio-political norms in Westernized and post-colonial societies. Through self-portraits, Ms. Fawundu explores the idea of an African identity. Within this archetype, she explores the collective unconscious (memory), the identity of women, and the complexities of race and class.
Ms. Fawundu-Buford’s work can be found in collections at the Brooklyn Museum of Art, Danny Simmons’s Corridor Gallery, The Brooklyn Historical Society, Catherine Edelman Gallery, and the Museum of Contemporary Art, University of Sao Paulo in Brazil. She has received numerous fellowships and grants from foundations such as the Soros Foundation, The Puffin Foundation, Fund for Teachers, National Association for Black Journalists, and the Brooklyn Historical Society. Delphine has participated in artist residencies at the African Artists Foundation in Lagos, Nigeria. She has produced commissioned projects including the mini-documentary and solo photography exhibition titled, “Tivoli: A Place We Call Home: A Community Faces Gentrification,” at the Brooklyn Historical Society and “Touched: Black & Latina Women Living with HIV” for the Women’s Institute of the Gay Men’s Health Crisis (GMHC). Delphine plans to photograph as much of the world as possible and has traveled to Mali, Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal, South Africa, Sierra Leone, Spain, Egypt, Jamaica, The Netherlands, England, France, Germany, Denmark, and Cuba creating personal projects.
Arnold Butler is an autodidactic painter and photographer hailing from Atlanta, Georgia.
For Butler, creating art is akin to the act of translating unfiltered emotions. The work is not about receiving money or accolades, but instead honesty, love and pure intentions. “Simply stated,” he has said, “I don’t paint pictures, I paint my prayers for the Universe to see and hear them.”
Roger Bonair-Agard is a native of Trinidad & Tobago, and Brooklyn; a Cave Canem fellow, and author of four full length collections of poetry, tarnish & masquerade (Cypher Books, 2006), GULLY (Cypher Books/Peepal Tree Press, 2010) and Bury My Clothes (Haymarket Books, 2013), which was long listed for the National Book Award, and won the Society of Midland Authors Award for Poetry 2013, and Where Brooklyn At?! (forthcoming in 2016 from Willow Books). A two-time National Poetry Slam Champion, Roger is also co-founder of NYC’s LouderARTS Project. He has appeared on HBO’s Def Poetry Jam and been featured at universities and literary festivals throughout the world. Roger is extensively published in journals and anthologies. He is Director of Creative Writing with Free Write Arts & Literacy at Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center. The creator and facilitator of The Baldwin Protocols: towards an arts based intervention for students of color in higher learning, at University of Dubuque, he lives and works in Chicago and New York City. He is Nina’s father.
Soyara Jean Louis – McElroy is a Haitian born, Harlem and Brooklyn raised mixed media queer womynist artist currently living and loving in New Orleans. Her love of black womyn and families, motherhood, nature, Afrofuturism, comics/graphic novels and the African Diaspora are central themes in her work. Soraya’s work as an organizer, mentor, counselor, doula and medical anthropologist focusing on women’s health and African folklore strengthen her commitment to resisting oppression and facilitating healing through imaginative creative/art activism. Soraya has participated in several group exhibits in various New Orleans cultural institutions including the Mckenna Museum of African American Art, The JuJu Bag, Antenna Gallery, The Jazz and Heritage Gallery and a solo show at Café Rose NiCaud. Her works have been used in zines, books and promotional materials such as Secret Rivers : Domestic Violence Zine, Near Kin: A collection of Words and Art Inspired by Octavia Estelle Butler, and the Official poster for Audre Lorde Week at Tulane. She also served as make-up and costume designer for Monica McIntyre’s album It Soon Come . Soraya is the co-founder of Wildseeds: New Orleans Octavia Butler Emergent Strategy Collective. Wildseeds work, steeped in Black feminist traditions of survival and healing, engages Octavia Butler and other speculative/sci-fi and fantastical authors a resource for social change She is currently working with various community organizations and enjoying her beautiful family. Soraya is constantly imagining and creating new work and was awarded the Alternate Roots Visual Scholars grant in 2014. Most recently Soraya was the creative facilitator, curator and contributing artist for Wildseeds “Sacred Space”at ExhibitBE.
Bio
Alexis Garrett Stodghill is an artist, multi-media journalist, and new media producer. She graduated from Brown University with a double major in Modern Culture and Media and English and American Literature. Through the mix of these disciplines, she explores the way different media can empower subjects, or subjugate them to dominant powers with greater access to the means of visual production. In her business endeavours, she has created media that gives voice to individuals typically disenfranchised in this economy through projects such as co-producing the groundbreaking web site BlackPlanet.com. She has also written for various outlets, including NBCNews.com, New York’s Daily News, Ebony, Jet, and BlackEnterprise.com. Ms. Stodghill currently produces news at MSNBC, and lives in New York City. For more information: alexisgstodghill.com
Statement
Alexis Garrett Stodghill joins André St. Clair and Tavet Gillson of ANDRÉTAVET, whose work explores self-image filtered through the dreamlike prism of technology.
In Button Reign, the central character of the button “queen” illustrates the universal tension between the public and private self. The theme of the “button” unifies the piece, functioning both as a strong visual element and as a metaphor for notions of closure and confinement, suturing and covering up.
In the first image the queen is shown in her formal court portrait. She is “buttoned-up” — constrained in a heteronormative power role, her transgender identity almost subsumed.
In the second portrait the queen is “unbuttoned” — vulnerable, relaxing in her tub, taking pleasure in her feminine nature, free from society’s constraints.
The buttons in the first image function as armor — a visual cue to royalty, power and order. In the second image the buttons form a multicolored, polymorphous dream-substance that caresses the queen as she experiences her true self.
Our work concerns the universal experience of having both a “buttoned-up” social self we all must present, and a gender-personal self we all possess outside society’s prescriptions.
On an artistic level, our work combines subversive content with a pop visual style that seduces and provokes viewers into going deeper — into our work, into our culture, into themselves.
The aesthetic of Button Reign is in part inspired by the dynamic designs of famed interior designer Jamie Drake, who lent key spaces in his Manhattan home for our photo shoot, which plays upon the mix of darkness, elegance, and pop/edgy romance that the designer has described as key elements of his abode.
One name; Two artists.
Together, André & Tavet explore self-image filtered through the dreamlike prism of technology.
ANDRÉTAVET’s visual art is part of the permanent exhibit at Cyndi Lauper’s True Colors Residence for LGBT youth and in the permanent collection at Leslie Lohman Museum of Gay & Lesbian Art.
André St. Clair is a transgender interdisciplinary artist, speaker and activist. St. Clair holds an Honors B.A. in Sexuality and Society from Brown University, an MA and MFA, respectively in Performance Studies from New York University/Tisch School of the Arts and in Acting from California Institute of the Arts (CalArts). With gender and sexuality framing her interests, her work promotes cultural and aesthetic diversity of viewpoints, experience and expression for the realization of equality. St. Clair is on the Board of Directors at Leslie Lohman Museum of Gay & Lesbian Art. For more information: andrestclair.com
Tavet Gillson is an artist and entertainer born and raised in New York City. His work encompasses a variety of media — comics, photo-collage, graphic art, animation, painting, drawing — and ranges from the atmospheric to the absurd.