In Living Color: A group exhibition in North Miami featuring the works of Musah Swallah and Emily Carris-Duncan

26 September - 14 October 2023
In Living Color, A group exhibition in North Miami featuring the works of Musah Swallah and Emily Carris-Duncan
In Living Color, The Contemporary Art Modern Project’s September exhibition, features works by American artist Emily Carris-Duncan and Ghanaian artist Musah Swallah. In pairing Swallah’s vibrant portraiture style and Carris-Duncan’s blend of photography and textile work, In Living Color explores the concept of duality as truth.  
 
As this show marks the expansion of our new space, and was simultaneously curated by our own CAMP members Maria Di Giammarco and Chloe Fabien, they both have their own thoughts on the statement of the show, and below we have presented each of their full written dialogues about the art and artists.
 
 
In Living Color - Statement by Maria Di Giammarco
 
Truth is that which is (one would think) inarguable, but a consideration of truth as black and-white is dangerous, capable of a murkiness that is difficult to resurface from. Truth is really a double-sided coin, but a single coin nonetheless; In Living Color aims to be an  example of how embracing these “opposing” forces brings us closer to transparency. The artists in this exhibition can be considered as opposites on a breadth of levels—gender, culture, nationality, experience, aesthetics—the exhibition is a precise and intentional consideration of them together in the context of duality.  
 
This is best exemplified in their portrayals of specific parts of the Black experience. Carris-Duncan takes a heavy, cultural-historical approach in referencing the era in which Africans were enslaved in the United States through both patterns and archival photography of enslaved people, as well as her materials. Swallah’s playful, almost bombastic, color palette affords his acrylic portraits of Black figures a bright and easygoing self-assuredness; his take on a facet of hair culture is natural in a variety of interpretations, whether the figures’ curls are out or they’ve blended into the environment.  
 
While their chosen media is gender-coded, each artist’s mastery fosters interrogations of what else is gender- and racially-coded in a global society, and what isn’t or, perhaps, shouldn’t be. Arguably, both artists act as stewards of history, yet Carris-Duncan bears the brunt of memory in this exhibition. Their pieces are no less labor intensive than Swallah’s and yet the weight of history is quite literally embedded in her work. Swallah opts for a lightness and optimism, as if he’s leading the charge in the present. This is most notable when considering Carris-Duncan’s cool-toned and somber selection of works, as well as the figures in their pieces—or the absence of some figures, better said.  
 
Carris-Duncan’s We Don’t Die We Multiply (2020-2023), a hoodie dyed with materials such as indigo, goldenrod, and marigold balance Black Americans’ historic connections with field labor during the era of enslavement as well as after it with homage for Black people whose lives have been taken by police violence in recent years. In the next gallery, Swallah’s Wedding Day (2022) features a Black bride in a garden with a delicate, white veil atop her bald head; her gaze doesn’t center a viewer as her beloved, rather a display of elegance and  joy in her own life.  
 
Thus, while each artist has created their own unique position in a larger, shared context it’s in the integration of different cultural experiences within these bodies of work that a brilliant  argument for truth comes through. This juxtaposition forms a part of a complex narrative regarding Blackness and the Black experience in a post-colonial way of thinking—meaning, we’re allowed to consider the difficult alongside the beautiful. In Living Color considers joy as defiance, memory as tangible, bravery and fear and justice in practice; the figures in this exhibition are extensions of the artists’ identities and the curators’ experiences as Caribbean/Latin-American women. The function of these dualities is not about balance nor about harmony, rather truth.
 
 
In Living Color - Statement by Chloe Fabien
 

Ancestral ties are often deeper than we consider in our modern day society. Our forbearers often unknowingly shape our identities, decisions, and fate. Alex Haley, the author of Roots says: “In every conceivable manner, the family is link to our past, bridge to our future.” As products of our mothers and fathers, we are an interconnectedness of generations rich in karmic cycles where we come face to face with the trauma and lessons from previous generations. As more awareness of generational trauma spreads and conversations begin, a sense of self and love for our lineage begins to surface. To know yourself is to love yourself while loving those who came before you and created you. 


Getting to know a piece of art while forming your own interpretation from your perspective can be another way of knowing yourself. Naturally the mind finds ways to relate ourselves, experiences and imaginations in any imagery. Sometimes this practice can bring considerable joy or immense pain. What one person finds deeply moving, another may not connect with in the same way. This subjectivity is a part of what makes art such a rich and diverse form of human expression. Artists work through their own feelings of self reflection and emotional connection to create as a means of catharsis, something clearly see in the works found in this exhibition. Reclaimed is a series by Carris-Duncan born from searching for a sense of self. As a trans-racially adopted Black woman raised in modern America she felt her story was “incomplete”. Growing into her artistry she found new crafts imprinted with the legacy of her ancestors. Creating with them in mind, her art may sit differently and on occasion, uncomfortably with an audience who knows American history. Many of her pieces speak directly for her ancestors while intertwining her own experiences as their descendants. Carris-Duncan’s makes one visually familiar with the suffering of The African American slave between visual photos and quilts inspired by Log Cabin codes used for survival along the Underground Railway. an Archival Inkjet print of Peter Gordon’s lashes is depicted in Suture Self. This image was published in 1863 and circulated by abolitionists as an exemplification of the brutality slaves endured. Carris-Duncan intimately connects with this image as she embroiders over his wounds. Almost as if she is healing the pain in her lineage.


Musah Swallah is an artist that creates as a tool for self expression and creating awareness behind the African identity. In gallery A,  his strong portraits of men and women within the African diaspora dress the walls with this intention to celebrate. The portrayal of Black people in American art has a complex and multifaceted history that spans centuries. Until relatively recently Black people weren’t properly represented in many contexts. Swallah’s portraits silence the convulsions of the past and solely represent individuals of the African diaspora as the strong, resilient and vibrant individuals they have  always been. Swallah paints these natural scenes of color and gives the subject strong characterizing features that one can easily find their reflection. Looking at Thinkers, for example, the triad of focal points draws the viewer to contemplate and anticipate the paths of thought of the characters, very much akin to Rodin’s The Thinker  leaving the interpretation to evolve from the viewer's experience and interaction with the piece. - Spending time with Swallah’s  portraiture leaves the viewer to shape and influence their perspective of their current selves elevating the heaviness of the past.


Both artists present the viewer with examples of the duality that is often found in experience; Carris-Duncan an ancestral history laden with suffering becomes the beauty that defines her art and her approach to her experience. Swallah, too, offers up his experience; one that reverberates a certain joy in the people he sees, their present selves, their confidence and strength lives beyond the confines of the canvas. In pairing these two artists, and when considering their motivations behind their works, the result is a testimony to the dual experiences they have encountered and how now combined they stand for a certain truth, and in truth is beauty. 

 

 

 
Back to Past exhibitions