Feb 20th 2021

African Diaspora in Arts Panel

@ Chicago Public Library

Online

Opening Saturday, February 20th, from 2PM - 3PM

Register: https://chipublib.bibliocommons.com/events/6009fb14efcfe52e007a8292

Join us for a very special panel conversation honoring the role of black women from the African diaspora in the arts, both locally and internationally. Our distinguished guests will discuss what being part of the African diaspora means to them and how it manifests in unique and spectacular ways within their work. To quote, Alkebuluan Merriweather on her Black Matriarch Archive, this panel also hopes to further “create an ongoing archive commemorating the black women”. All are welcome to this live Zoom conversation, to learn about each artist and to celebrate their many achievements.

Panelists include:

Kanyinsola Anifowoshe is a curator and writer passionate about how engaging with art can transform ourselves and our world. In 2017 she founded Wahala Zine, an online publication highlighting creative work by young people across the Nigerian diaspora. She is also an alum of YOUmedia Chicago and a current sophomore at Yale in African American Studies.

Ebony Bailey is a “Blaxican” filmmaker and photographer from Central California whose work explores cultural intersections and diaspora. Her photographs have appeared in NPR, LA Times and Remezcla. Her films have featured at Harvard University’s “Black Migration and Influence in Mexico”, among many other festivals and screenings.

Cindy L. Lys is a Haitian-American visual artist and clinical social worker based in Chicago. Her art work explores textile designs inspired by Haitian sacred art, African and Afro-Caribbean spirituality. Delving into the complementarity of Haitian religiosity, Cindy destabilizes the stigma commonly attached to Haitian Vodou and the black sacred cosmos.

Alkebuluan Merriweather is a multidisciplinary artist and archivist who works within digital and analog photography, collage, archival materials, and is a punk by heart. In 2019, she founded the Black Matriarch Archive (an online platform open for submissions by African diaspora) to honoring black women and the role they play in shaping black families.

Moderated by Jose Luis Benavides, YOUmedia, Teen Associate, Back of the Yards Branch.

How to Attend
This event takes place on Zoom. Register by 10 a.m. the day before the event. You’ll receive an email with a link to the secure Zoom meeting about 24 hours before the meeting. Only one registration per household is necessary. By registering for this event, you agree to abide by the Library Use Guidelines.

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