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MOCA GA Presents WonderRoot Hughley Fellows 2018/19

Jun 29, 2019 - Aug 24, 2019
11am - 5pm

Controlled Burn

About the Exhibition

Controlled Burn represents the potential for transformation and purpose to arise out of systems of chaos and passivity. The timing of a burn can produce a powerful desire to subvert the boundaries of discipline, identity, and the status quo. Through drawing, photography, sculpture, performance, and sound, the work of the artists revitalizes social narratives and grapples with familiar states of being. Controlled Burn negotiates the uncontrollable influence of outside forces, disruptive histories, and personal will. Adding more fuel to the cultural fire, the work provides a place where new modes of discourse break through the noise.

—Iman Person

Curated by Iman Person

Iman Person serves as WonderRoot’s Arts Innovation Specialist. She is a native Georgian with a background in arts administration, gallery development and arts education. In 2010 she received her B.F.A from Georgia State University in Studio Art and has become a noted figure in the local arts community.  Previously she has held positions at The  City of Atlanta Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs as their Social Media Administrator, and the Interim gallery Coordinator for Gallery 72.

WonderRoot’s Hughley Fellowship Program

The Hughley Artist Fellowship provides artists with sustainable tools, resources, and access to thought leaders to significantly advance their professional careers. Through a competitive application process, twelve fellows are selected who demonstrate both artistic rigor and the potential to impact the artistic climate of Atlanta and beyond. The fellowship is named in honor of longtime Reynoldstown resident and community leader, Young Hughley Jr. who founded Resources for Residents and Communities of Georgia in 1989. Fellowship programming includes group symposia and roundtable discussions with leading arts professionals, one-on-one mentorship for each fellow, a retreat to Ossabaw Island, and a group exhibition at MOCA GA.

Find out more about the Fellowship Program here.

2018/19 WonderRoot Hughley Fellows

Robert Chamberlin is a conceptual artist living and working in Atlanta, GA. He received his MFA from The School of the Museum of Fine Art Boston and Tufts University and holds a BFA from the Ernest G Welch School of Art & Design, Georgia State University. Working across media (photography, performance, ceramics etc.) to express ideas and promote conversation. Robert is often at the focus of his work. Tackling projects that channel a contemporary socio-political issues like surveillance, sexuality, and domesticity through a personal lens.

Ben Coleman is a British multi-disciplinary artist residing in Atlanta, GA. His practice encompasses performance, sonic art, music and mixed-media installation projects. Collaborators include choreographers (Melissa Word, Malcolm Low/Formal Structure, Fly on a Wall, Staibdance, Erik Thurmond) visual artists (Henry Detweiler, Justin Rabideau) theater companies (the Object Group, Seven Stages) and musicians (Travis Thatcher/Judi Chicago, Helton and Bragg, Noot d’ Noot). His work has been presented by the High Museum of Art, Alliance Theatre, Zuckerman Museum of Art, Gibney Dance, Dashboard, Georgia Institute of Technology, Tanz Farm and Emory Dance. Highlights include ‘No Vacancy’ (installation and performance) ‘Zoetrope’ (performance and sound) and ‘Medium’ (Sound Curator). He is a graduate of Brunel University, London (Contemporary Performance Making) and Recording Workshop, Ohio (Music Recording & Audio Production).

Charity Harris is an emerging artist who creates fashion sculptures from second-hand and ready-made materials. Harris uses her Southern upbringing as the driving force for the content that fuels her work—race, religion and the human relationship to nature. She combines the use of “humble materials” with her love of natural textures and historic costume to express her unique experiences that explore Southern identity as an African-American woman. Harris received her Bachelor of Arts from Georgia State University in 2013, where her exploration of fashion and textiles led to ultimately merging fiber and sculpture. Harris is a Windgate Fellowship finalist and, most recently, an Idea Capital Grant recipient. Her work has been exhibited at the Museum of Contemporary Art Georgia and has been featured in publications, Fiber Art Now and BURNAWAY.

Julie B. Johnson, PhD is a dance artist and educator focused on intersections of creative practice, community interaction, and social justice. Interested in dance taking place in and out of the studio, on and off the stage, and anywhere in between, she facilitates community collaborations with public schools, social service organizations, individual artists, and arts institutions. Through Moving Our Stories, Julie explores how embodied memory lives and moves in our bodies with workshops, performance, choreographic process, and creative research. Julie is a Senior Lecturer at Spelman College’s Department of Dance Performance and Choreography where she teaches dance theory, choreographic process, and contemporary dance technique with an emphasis on African Diaspora movement aesthetics. She serves as the Curator for the department’s lecture series, Inside the Dancers’ Studio. Julie is a co-founding editor of The Dancer-Citizen, an online open access peer reviewed journal exploring the work of socially engaged artists. She serves as a strategist for Lela Aisha Jones | Flyground, as well as an organizing committee member of Flyground’s Dancing for Justice Philadelphia initiative. Julie earned her PhD in Dance Studies at Temple University, where she focused on experiences and meanings of ‘community’ in West African dance in the United States.

Arianna Khmelniuk an olfactory artist, antidisciplinary researcher, founder of the Zapah_lab, currently based in Atlanta. Secondary education was received in the field of theater directing. Recipient of Distinguished Fellowship stipend and free The Hambidge Center for the Creative Arts & Sciences residence participation (2018). Duo exhibition “Phantoms and Soft Time” at Swan Coach House Gallery with Wihro Kim, curated by Qualia Projects / Iman Person (2019).

Neka King is an interdisciplinary artist based in Atlanta, Ga. She received her BFA in Studio Arts with a concentration in Textile Arts from Ernest G. Welch School of Art and Design at Georgia State University in 2016. Her work was awarded the Maron Bowen David Award twice (2015 and 2016) and received nomination for the Windgate Fellowship in 2016. She has exhibited her work in the following group exhibitions: New Kids on the Block (2015), GSU Thread Count (2016), Ain’t I A Woman, and We Deserve a Mansion Party (both 2018). Her work reflects a personal outlook on “blackness”, identity, heritage and community.

María Korol was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1980 and moved to the United States in 2004. Her former education in classic and modern dance shifted to an interest in the visual arts while studying at the University of California, Irvine. She holds a Master in Fine Arts degree in painting from Indiana University, Bloomington. She has shown her paintings and drawings nationally and internationally in places as far afield as Bogotá, New York, Berlin, and Atlanta and has been the recipient of scholarships to the Women’s Art Institute in 2015, and the Akademie der Künste in Berlin in 2016. She is one of the selected artists for The Creatives Project (2018 to 2020) with studio residency at The Goat Farm. She is based in Atlanta, Georgia.

Sister Sai is the moniker of multi-instrumentalist and producer Saira (pronounced sī’ rǝ) Raza. Her work displays a wide range of musical influences including jazz, folk, electronic, and classical. In her recordings, Saira employs any and all instruments within reach including vibraphone, guitar, bass, dilruba, found sounds, synths, but she primarily performs with her first love, the cello. Her album Inertia was included in Creative Loafing Atlanta’s 40 Best Albums of 2016. Her most recent release Extempore, which reflects the experimental loop-based style of her live solo sets, was included among Immersive Atlanta’s 30 Best Local Records of 2017. Saira learned to play cello through public school education and as a teen, took private lessons from New Directions Cello Festival founder Chris White to explore jazz music for cello. After a hiatus from playing cello for several years, she began taking lessons again with Okorie Johnson and shortly after began performing as support to hip hop artists. In 2013, she began recording her own compositions, releasing four solo albums to date, as well as several collaborations with 10th Letter and Visitors. In 2016, she participated in Red Bull Music Academy Bass Camp at Bonnaroo alongside 19 other U.S. based emerging music artists. Sister Sai has two different live incarnations. For solo sets, Saira creates live improvisational compositions by layering loops of cello and vocals, combined with effects and a sampler. Listeners have described her solo sets as meditative and trance-inducing. In contrast, Sister Sai also performs as a full band, with Saira at the helm on cello and vocals in addition to bass (Kimb Collins), guitar (Chris Edwards), drums (Dylan Banks), and vibraphone (Alexa Lima). Full band sets are energetic and dynamic, showcasing the amazing skills of each musician on stage.

Hez Stalcup is an experimental dance artist based in Atlanta, GA. He began dancing professionally in 2012, at age 35. Since then, Hez has created dance and performance pieces for Eyedrum, Dance Truck, ELEVATE Atlanta, WonderRoot, Dance Chance, Flux Projects, Sumptuary Arts, The Hambidge Center and The Lucky Penny. Hez was a 2014/2015 Leap Year Artist with MINT Gallery. He is currently a Resident Artist in The Lucky Penny’s Work Room studio. His goal is to create unapologetic, smart, queer, emotionally condensed, compelling work.

Pretty Major is not only a clothing company, it’s a state of being that represents creating an idea and seeing it to fruition. Pretty Major is a unisex clothing line out of Atlanta, GA. PM is a brand that embraces graphic design as well as cut and sew. Our motto, how bad is good enough, is a constant reminder of how hard we’ve worked to make our dreams a reality and how much further we have to go. “Over are the days where we’re forced to purchase things that were not designed with us in mind.” -Talecia Tucker (Founder)

Laura Vela is a Chicana multimedia and interdisciplinary artist in the Atlanta area. Vela recently graduated from Kennesaw State University with a BFA concentrating in Painting and Drawing and a minor in Gender and Women’s Studies. Her work explores identity, gender, race, and mental illness through oil paintings, watercolor and ink, photo, zine, and collage making. Vela is a Hambidge fellow and has shown work at Kibbee Gallery, Beep Beep Gallery, Emory University, Agnes Scott College, and The Low Museum among others.

Opening Reception

June 27th | 6:30 - 8:30 PM
Free for Members
Reserve your spot now

Location

MOCA GA
75 Bennett Streeet
Atlanta, GA 30309 United States
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