Join us on Saturday, May 4, 2024 at 2 PM for We Are Here: Music and Movement, a lively celebration of Kenyan artist Kaloki Nyamai’s work. Curated by Larry Ossei-Mensah, co-founder of ARTNOIR, this dynamic event will spotlight a symphony of creativity, uniting musicians, performers, and poets to interpret Nyamai’s captivating mixed-media paintings in his debut New York exhibition, Twe Vaa. From moments of solace to acts of defiance, We Are Here: Music and Movement explores the intricate layers of Black diasporal existence, offering an immersive journey celebrating presence, resilience, and endurance.
This program will consist of poetry by Mahogany L. Browne, drums by Jeremy Dutton, movement by Christiana Hunte, keys by Chris Pattishall, vocals by Vuyo Sotashe, and saxophone by Immanuel Wilkins.
This event is free and open to the public. Seating is available on a first come, first served basis.
Curator
Larry Ossei-Mensah is a Ghanaian-American curator and cultural critic reshaping our perceptions of art and society with a dynamic blend of innovation and inclusivity. Formerly the Susanne Feld Hilberry Senior Curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCAD), Detroit, and Curator-at-Large at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), Ossei-Mensah catalyzes change. Co-founding the nonprofit ARTNOIR, he pioneers racial equity in the art world, amplifying the voices of creatives, curators, and communities of color. Ossei-Mensah's influence spans the globe, curating exhibitions in renowned spaces like MOAD in San Francisco, MASS MoCA, The Metropolitan Museum in Manila, The Seattle Art Museum, Ben Brown Fine Arts in Hong Kong and London, as co-curated of the 7th Athen Biennale in Athens, and most recently the Denver Art Museum where he organized a multi-venue solo museum debut for Amoako Boafo - Soul of Black Folks.
Performers
Mahogany L. Browne, a Kennedy Center's Next 50 fellow, is a writer, playwright, organizer, & educator. Browne received fellowships from All Arts, Arts for Justice, Air Serenbe, Baldwin for the Arts, Cave Canem, Hawthornden, Poets House, Mellon Research, Rauschenberg, Wesleyan University, & UCross. Browne’s books include Vinyl Moon, Chlorine Sky (optioned for a play by Steppenwolf Theater), Black Girl Magic, and banned books Woke: A Young Poet’s Call to Justice and Woke Baby. Founder of the diverse lit initiative Woke Baby Book Fair, Browne currently tours Chrome Valley (highlighted in Publishers Weekly and The New York Times) and is the 2024 Paterson Poetry Prize winner.
Christiana Hunte is a multifaceted artist born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, focused in the realm of movement. She began her dance training at Creative Outlet Dance Theater of Brooklyn. Thereafter, she continued her education at LaGuardia High School. During her senior year, Christiana joined the National YoungArts Foundation as a 2014 Winner in Modern Dance. She graduated from SUNY Purchase College in 2018, receiving her BFA in Dance; and a minor in Arts Management. Christiana is currently a ballet teacher at MOVE|NYC|. Christiana aspires to continue learning the world through art and impacting the lives of the artistic generations to come, in healing and unity.
Chris Pattishall is a pianist and composer known for his wide stylistic breadth, meticulous sense of detail, empathy, and an inclination towards the surreal. Chris is a featured performer on a wide range of recordings, from the GRAMMY-nominated debut album of Jamison Ross to the film scores of Knives Out, Nightmare Alley, and Everything Everywhere All at Once. Chris co-composed the score to Going To Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project which won the Grand Jury Prize at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival and was shortlisted for the Oscars. He has collaborated with artists across multiple disciplines, including Shariffa Ali, Kamilah Long, Michela Marino-Lerman, Simeon Marsalis, Najja Moon, and Kambui Olujimi.
Vuyo Sotashe is a New York based vocalist, composer, and performer originally from South Africa. Since moving to the United states as a Fulbright Scholar, he has performed with celebrated jazz legends including Dee Dee Bridgewater, Jimmy Heath, George Benson, Al Jarreau, Barry Harris, and Winard Harper, to name a few. Recently, he appeared with multi-Grammy Award winner and Pulitzer Prize winner Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra as a featured artist on their 2018 Winter Tour across the United States. Sotashe continues to create, collaborate, record, and perform as an indelible creative voice both in his home country, New York City, as well as the international scene.
Alto saxophonist and composer Immanuel Wilkins burst onto the musical scene in 2020 with the release of his Blue Note recording debut, Omega, featuring his longstanding quartet of Micah Thomas, Daryl Johns and Kweku Sumbry. Wilkins constantly seeks out opportunities for creative connections with artists both within and outside the world of Jazz. The realm of visual arts is of particular interest to Wilkins. He has worked with the filmmakers Cauleen Smith and Ja’Tovia Gary; the sculptrice Kennedy Yanko; the painter Leslie Hewitt and the interdisciplinary artist, Theaster Gates. Wilkins has a bachelor’s degree in Jazz Studies from the Juilliard School.