Join artists Cauleen Smith and Christopher Myers as they use narratives to counter official histories and call for social justice. In this panel, they discuss the possibilities of storytelling; by referencing various myths from the African continent around water and by revisiting the words of activists such as abolitionist Sojourner Truth, both artists weave together past and future narratives in their practices. Magalí Arriola will moderate the talk.
Cauleen Smith was raised in Sacramento, California and lives in Los Angeles. Smith is faculty in the UCLA School of Arts and Architecture. Smith’s short films, feature film, an installation and performance were work showcased at International Film Festival Rotterdam 2019. Smith has had solo exhibitions at The Whitney Museum of American Art, MassMoCA and LACMA. Smith is the recipient of the following awards: Rockefeller Media Arts Award, Creative Capital Film / Video, Chicago 3Arts Grant, and the Foundation for Contemporary Arts, Chicago Expo Artadia Award, and Rauschenberg Residency, Herb Alpert Awards in the Arts in Film and Video 2016, United States Artists Award 2017, 2016 inaugural recipient of the Ellsworth Kelly Award, 2020 recipient of the Studio Museum Joyce Alexander Wein Artist Prize, and 2021 Guggenheim Fellowship.
Christopher Myers (b. 1974, New York) is an artist and writer whose transdisciplinary work is rooted in storytelling. Myers delves into the margins of the historical archive to reconstruct narratives that parse the slippages between fact and fiction. His diverse practice spans textiles, performance, film, stained glass, and sculptural objects, often created in collaboration with artisans from around the globe. He lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.
Magali Arriola is the Director of Museo Tamayo in Mexico City, and is the curator of Meridians in Art Basel Miami. She was KADIST Lead Curator for Latin America from 1016 to 2019, and curated the Mexican Pavilion for the 58 Venice Biennial.
The Art Basel Miami Beach 2022 Conversations program is curated by Emily Butler.