Resiliency: A Blooming Diaspora

Resiliency: A Blooming Diaspora
Curated by Brent Holmes
Opens online on October 1, 2020

Resilience is exemplified by life in the desert. The flora and fauna of the region we currently refer to, as southern Nevada is some of the most resilient on this earth, scratching an existence a hairline from desolation. This, of course, is true of the human residents of this desert environment, but perhaps thriving in the harshest of conditions is the most familiar to the people belonging to the African diaspora. Blackness within the United States as is no simple thing. 

Featuring: Jordan Collins, Ashley Hariston Doughty, LaRon Emcee, Saucey Downs, Florish, Q’Shaundra James, Tyler Lewis, Anthony Moore, Sloan Siobhan, Erica Vital-Lazare, Jamila Wimberly, and Phatsimo Wenzel.

This exhibition is in conjunction with the Illustrated Word Exhibition Series part of the Las Vegas Book Festival.

Watch the Curator’s Talk featuring Brent Holmes, Erica Vital-Lazare, Jamila Wimberly, and Q’Shaundra James at the bottom of this page.

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Gallery East Wall

Q'Shaundra James

Wait For Her Gaze
Oil on Canvas

Q'shaundra James

Shhhhh....Quiet
Oil on Canvas

Jordan Collins

Yokai
Drawing and Photography Manipulation

Jordan Collins is a graphic designer and illustrator from Las Vegas, Nevada. His work is influenced by the abstract multicolored work of 80’s/90’s commercial work and illustration work manga artist. He embraces both hand drawn and photo manipulation, to create a balance of noisy textures and shapes. He aims for his work to be able to portray the feeling of rhythm and sound.

Jordan graduated from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas with a B.S in graphic design and minor in film. He is currently engaging in freelance work that embraces his love for music cover art, poster design, animation, and branding.

Website: https://spacemilkjordan.myportfolio.com/
Instagram: @spacemilkjordan

Jordan Collins

Chirireddorabu
Drawing and Photography Manipulation

Jordan Collins

Heartbreak Magazine
Digital Manipulation

Gallery East Wall

LaRon Emcee

Cloud Girl #20
Oil on Canvas

LaRon Emcee

Cloud Girl #25
Oil on Canvas

Gallery South Wall

Florish

Venus in 8th Street
Mixed Media Installation

Anthony Morre

Showtime
Photography

Anthony Moore is a professional Systems Engineer, Part-time pirate reenactor, amateur photographer, recreational bowler, and small-time philanthropist. A lifelong lover of the arts he has found many way to express himself, with photography being a recent addition. The many varied interests and experiences that come with being a geeky, intellectually focused black man have been instrumental in shaping his view of the world and his appreciation for diversity in all things, forming the foundation for his desire to support those whose struggles are different from his own. A UNLV alumnus and a resident for 31 years he has seen the greater Las Vegas Valley grow and change.

These things are primary drivers to the images he captures. Catching people where they are in the moment, whether composed or candidly, is particularly satisfying. The human comes in many different forms and does many different things. Sometimes it’s the mundane, sometimes it’s the extraordinary, and Moore finds all of it interesting.

Anthony Moore

Downtime
Photography

Gallery West Wall

Sloan Siobhan

Lolliop Princess
Oil and Acrylic on Wood Panel
48"x24"

Sloan Siobhan

Sweet Cheeks
Oil and Acrylic on Wood Panel
24'“x24”

Gallery West Wall

Erica Vital-Lazare

Is Mama Cosmology The First Sound In the Universe
Quilt with Plumb Twiggs

Ashley Hairston Doughty

Sun-Dust-Earth
Download

Ashley Hairston Doughty is a visual storyteller, explaining personal experiences through verbal and visual language. As an African-American woman raised in predominately white communities, much of her practice deals with socio-economic, racial, physical ability, and gender-based issues. In particular, Doughty examines topics relating to cultural misconceptions and the development of personal identity. Her distinctive perspective has grown through residing in nine different cities throughout her lifetime, mostly in the southeastern, midwestern, and southwestern United States. Doughty moved to Las Vegas, Nevada, in the summer of 2017 and is an Assistant Professor of Art at UNLV.

Translating the personal into public for conceptual action and art became Doughty’s focus while studying at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago as a graduate student. It was there that Doughty was on the receiving end of comments from strangers in the streets of the city. A majority of these statements — many of which were derogatory in nature — reference her relationship with her now-husband, a white man with a disability. These experiences have led to explorations in e-textiles, interactive design, creative writing, and illustration with the intention of shedding light on the many cultural disparities that continue to clog our society.

Doughty’s background in graphic design compels her to make work that is informative, intriguing, and functional. The Space Between is the foremost example of this work. It includes a collection of writings and tactile pieces that describe the discomfort of unsolicited comments. The project was first displayed at the 2012 SAIC MFA Exhibition, where it provoked discussions on cultural expectations placed on individuals. Doughty described the process, production, and impact of The Space Between in an interview with David Linneweh after being named a finalist in the 2016 Studio Break competition.

More recently, two projects in Doughty’s “Procreation” series embody her current preoccupation with child-bearing and motherhood. As a married black woman in her mid-thirties, the next logical step in life — according to societal and cultural precedents — would be to have children. However, there are several issues that make the artist question whether this decision would be the right one — for her health, for her career, for her family, for our planet.

Doughty shares and encourages such art-making within her courses at UNLV and through her design business and blog, Design Kettle. Her work is included in the Joan Flasch Artists’ Book Collection in Chicago and has received awards from the Caxton Club, the College Book Arts Association and Arion Press. Doughty attended a residency at Otis College of Art and Design in the summer of 2019. Her work has been exhibited Chicago, Illinois; Murfreesboro, Tennessee; Las Vegas and Reno, Nevada; Los Angeles, California; and New Orleans, Louisiana.

Anthony Moore

Giving Face
Photography

Anthony Moore

Visions Go Here
Photography

Anthony Moore

Serious Fun
Photography

Gallery North Wall

Erica Vital-Lazare

Mathilda
Quilt

Q'shaundra James

Wait Till She Looks Up
Oil on Canvas

Phatsimo Wenzel

Azure Phase
Photograph

Devils in the Detail

An exploration of the grey space and all its tones. This is caused by all of the things between you and your subject, heat, smog, light and your perspective. On a technical level that is what causes the haze in between the mountain crests. That Lack of detail creates negative space which leads the gaze to sharpen the image, seeing its scale, colors and shape for what they are. In a way this lack of detail that makes for a beautiful image, is analogous to the experience of black African diaspora of the United States. It is in that mudding of the water, the gas lighting and white washing that the reality of history is obscured and diffused by time and human nature. This along with the observer's perspective which results in an individual instead of a shared experience, knowing this makes the image unique. I can not see privilege without acknowledging my own, the experience of Black men in the US is not the experience of Black women. Acknowledging and working toward a remedy to an unjust experience is the only path toward equality, especially when you find yourself benefiting from the status quo.

Phatsimo Wenzel Born in Kanye Botswana, immigrated to the United States in the mid 90’s with his mother and her new husband a peace corps volunteer. His experience since has been pastel colored by living a portion of the black immigrant experience after living in Fresno California, Wichita Kansas, Reno and Las Vegas, Nevada. A UNLV graduate and Journeed man through local photography apprenticeships, Phatsimo works now a commercial photographer, he is a proud father, husband and outdoors man.

Phatsimo Wenzel

Diametric Phase
Photograph

Phatsimo Wenzel

Phase Aurum
Photography

Phatsimo Wenzel

Phase Rubelius
Photography

Phatsimo Wenzel

Phases 51
Photography

Phatsimo Wenzel

Spectrum Phase
Photograph

Haikus for the Joshua Tree

Jamila “JAM Poet” Wimberly

Red, Black, & Green

Saucey Downs

Red, Black, & Green is inspired by a song from Roy Ayers which carries the same title. In the song, he speaks about what each color stands for. He also speaks to not only our struggles and Black People but also our greatness and our duties as such people. This song touch me so deeply that the only I could express my appreciation for it was to create a piece that embody the lyrics.

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Curator’s Talk featuring Brent Holmes, Erica Vital-Lazare, Jamila Wimberly, and Q’Shaundra James.