BLATANT is a forum and live zine series authored and facilitated by Independent curator and cultural strategist Ashara Ekundayo that centers the lived experiences and radical imagination of Black womxn artists and cultural workers creating across discipline and geography. Presented in conjunction with her “Artist As First Responder" platform, this monthly discussion highlights artists whose creative practices heal communities and save lives.

Follow Us on IG @blublakwomyn @artistasfirstresponder @moadsfThis month Ashara Ekundayo will be in conversation with Shanequa Gay and Nona Faustine.

If you would like to join today's program, here is the information to register on Zoom:

‍Register in advance for this webinar:

‍https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_ujkZeArWQSuSPFTIQKphQw

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.

Shanequa Gay evaluates place, tradition, storytelling, and subject matter to develop imaginative dialogues and alternative strategies for self-imaging. Through installations, paintings, performance, video, and monumental sculptural figures, she fabricates environments of ritual and memorial, depicting amalgamated images of deities and mythical figures whose lives have been impacted by systemic inequalities. By developing counter and re-imagined narratives that live within the duality of physical and spiritual worlds, Gay explores the historical and contemporary social concerns of hybrid cultures, through the gaze of the African- Ascendant female progenitor.  

Shanequa Gay, an Atlanta native, received her MFA at Georgia State University. Gay was one of ten selected artists for OFF THE WALL a city-wide Mural initiative led by WonderRoot and the Atlanta Super Bowl Host Committee (2018-2019). Gay was chosen by The Congressional Club to be the illustrator for the First Lady's Luncheon hostess gift for First Lady Michelle Obama. Gay is a Do Good Fellow. Residencies include Independent Study, Iwakuni, Japan (2014); The Creatives Project Artist-in-Studio Program, The Goat Farm Arts Center, Atlanta, GA (2015-2017); and Baldwin's Room Artist in Residence, Johannesburg, South Africa (2017).

Nona Faustine is a Native New Yorker and award winning photographer. Her work focuses on history, identity, representation, evoking a critical and emotional understanding of the past and proposes a deeper examination of contemporary racial and gender stereotypes. Faustine’s images have been published in a variety of national and international media outlets such as Artforum, New York Times, Huffington Post, Hyperallergic, The Guardian, New Yorker Magazine and the LA Times, among others.

Faustine's work has been exhibited at National Portrait Gallery, Harvard University, Rutgers University, Maryland State University, Studio Museum of Harlem, Brooklyn Museum, African American Museum in Philadelphia, Schomburg Center for Black Research in Harlem, the International Center of Photography, Saint Johns Divine Cathedral, Tomie Ohtake Institute in Brazil and many others.

Her work is in the collection of the David C. Driskell Center at Maryland State University, Studio Museum of Harlem, Brooklyn Museum and the Carnegie Museum.

Ashara Ekundayo is an independent curator, artist, designer, creative industries entrepreneur and organizer working internationally across cultural, spiritual, civic, and social innovation spaces.  Through her company AECreative Consulting Partners and her projects Omi Arts Project + Space and Ashara Ekundayo Gallery, she places artists and cultural production as essential in equitable design practices, real estate development, and movement-building. Her intersectional worldview offers both an Afrofuturist and Black radical feminist framework to the public sector by centering the lives, traditions, and expertise of Black womxn of the African Diaspora.

Currently, Ashara serves as Chief Creative Catalyst for the Bay Area Girls & Womxn of Color Collaborative, serves on the Advisory Board of the Oakland Public Conservatory of Music, and is a founding member of the #SeeBlackWomxn collective.  

‍Ashara.io

Generous support for this program is provided by Art Bridges

The Artist as First Responder Project is supported by:  African American Art & Culture Complex | Akonadi Foundation | The San Francisco Foundation Wakanda Dream Lab at Movement Strategy Center | Women’s Foundation of California