...of the land: acts of refusal and ratification

...of the land: acts of refusal and ratification features new and recent works from Chicago-based artists Ajmal ‘Mas Man’ Millar, Lola Ayisha Ogbara, and R. Treshawn Williamson exploring sculpture, self-imaging and history through postcolonial lenses, collective & individual recollection, and peculiar materialism. Their use of storytelling holds significance for spatiality and locality to become common ground through the fielding of land, labor and industry.

Ajmal ‘Mas Man’ Millar expands the sculptural form welding metal, Trinidadian carnival culture and identity politics alongside the African diaspora. Lola Ayisha Ogbara merges

West African and African American interior design aesthetics with bodily sculptural ceramic forms, with performative photography - that rest and refuse a Western gaze.
R. Treshawn Williamson creates historical context for his own familial roots in the mining of charcoal material for large scale screen-printed tapestries in a careful consideration of laborious processes as praxis. Millar, Ogbara and Williamson engage in practices that consider topographic timelines and performance as an essential tool making for an interesting dialogue about homeplace.

The exhibition opens with a reception on July 15th, 5- 8pm, and runs through September 24th. Please RSVP here.

About SSCAC: Founded in 1940, SSCAC is the oldest Black American art center in the United States and is a Chicago Historic Landmark. While taking pride in our rich past, we today build on our legacy and innovatively serve as an artist- and community-centered resource with programs and exhibitions.

The mission of the South Side Community Art Center is to conserve, preserve and promote the legacy and future of Black American art and artists while educating the community on the value of art and culture.