Art Opening: Feat. Gherdai Hassell, Nandi Jordan, Djakou Kassi Nathalie, & Kino Galbraith + Ikwe
Schedule
Sat Apr 27 2024 at 06:00 pm
Location
Wa Na Wari | Seattle, WA
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New Exhibitions at Wa Na Wari Wa Na Wari presents:
“Nexus” by Gherdai Hassell
“Let Me Be Magic” by Nandi Jordan
“Selected Works” by Djakou Kassi Nathalie
“Gold N Diamond” by Kino Galbraith & Kelsey Van Ert
On view from April 27-July 20, 2024
Opening Reception: Saturday, April 27, 2024, 6-8pm
Live music by Karim Koumbassa and refreshments will be offered. Free event.
Wa Na Wari is proud to present the art of Gherdai Hassell, Nandi Jordan, Djakou Kassi Nathalie, and Kino Galbraith & Kelsey Van Ert on view from April 27-July 20, 2024.
Gallery Hours:
Tuesday-Thursday: 2pm-6pm
Friday: 5pm-8pm
Saturday and Sunday- 11am-5pm
About the artists:
Gherdai Hassell
Show title: “Nexus”
Work titles:
(Textiles) “Exhale,” 2022.
Medium: Poetry, digital print on silk and wooden rod.
(Installation) “What Remains to be Seen,” 2021.
Medium: Individual digital collaged portraits printed on acetates.
Gherdai Hassell said, “My work investigates memory and nostalgia to create unexpected narratives surrounding identity. In 2019, I uncovered a family tree which traced my lineage back eight generations from Bermuda via St Kitts to Nigeria, Africa. Driven by an exploration of my own heritage, in this exhibition, I examine the lasting impacts of slavery: re-imagining the identities of enslaved Bermudians in a series of striking portraits, texts, and installation inspired by the Bermuda Slave Registers and historic photographs in the Bermuda Archives. Bermuda is the Bahamas, it is Barbados, it is Jamaica, it is the U.S. South. It is our diasporic story of triumph. In scrutinizing my personal history, and utilizing archival imagery to present historical fiction, I weave an imagined narrative of the diaspora and its people, merging past, present, and future.”
Gherdai Hassell transforms diasporic narratives into an imaginative landscape, reinterpreting visual elements from the past to envision new trajectories for the future. She uses mixed media techniques to thread and weave layers of history and the complexities of Caribbean heritage, post colonial narratives and identity through painting, fashion and collage. Through her usage of regional mythologies, archival imagery, elements of science fiction and fantasy, she presents identities and ancestral tales as fluid, continuously evolving. The work centers migration and movement of the body. Through vibrant collage artworks on paper and canvas, textiles, soft sculptures and immersive installations, Hassell merges various cultural symbols, including textile patterns, botanical motifs, folklore, literature, and symbols of resilience and defiance. Her work typically centers female characters, her “Alibii,” simultaneously existing within realms of past, present, and future. Like time, her characters are in flux. The empowered subjects of Hassell’s work often meet the viewer’s gaze directly, asserting their individuality and agency amidst ongoing transformation.
Gherdai Hassell is a Bermudian born, China trained, multidisciplinary contemporary artist, creative director, designer and storyteller, based in Manchester, UK. Her work investigates memory and nostalgia to create unexpected narratives surrounding identity. She uses collage to thread and weave histories, and tales of transformation passed down through family lineages. Her work typically centers female bodies, simultaneously existing within realms of past, present, and future. Diasporic pasts become re-informed by Black futures, where the resulting present is experienced as living “artifacts,” an act toward Afrofuturism. Her work is an exploration of identity as an exploration of materials, and social practice. The work suggests that identity should be self-determined and understood, and contextualized through connection with others. Her multimedia work reimagines relationships with the body as avatar, social space and the invisible world. Her artwork is a part of public and private collections across the world and on permanent display in the Government Administration Building, Hamilton, Bermuda. Her work has been presented in solo and group exhibitions and biennials in Bermuda, USA, UK, Nigeria, Cuba, South Africa, Mali and China.
On Instagram: @hassell_free
Website: gherdaihassell.com
Nandi Jordan
“Let Me Be Magic”
Works:
“An Offering is Not a Gift,” 2024.
Twenty-one 7 in x 10 in mixed media collages. 40” x 30”
“Cast On,” 2024.
Installation of mixed media paper birds.
Series: “Let Me Be Magic”
The works presented are part of a series of mixed media collages called, “Let Me Be Magic.” In this series I consider the psychic scars passed down to Black women and question whether leisure and frivolousness is possible within the shadow of so-called Black Girl
Magic.
Nandi Jordan said, “I use motifs and repetition as a way to represent the inherited burdens that are unknowingly carried through the generations. The artworks grapple with the contradictions that have defined my experiences and exposure to Black womanhood – weakness/strength, pride/shame, and faith/fear. I also incorporate pages from an instructional book on bird watching as both a symbol for unrestrained leisure and a reminder of guided structure. This series was inspired by my own experience of bird watching as well as the racial profiling of a birdwatcher in New York City in May 2020. Both experiences were disorienting, visceral and familiar in their contradictory nature and I created this body of work to challenge the normalcy of holding all these competing feelings and experiences in one place.”
Nandi Jordan is a multi-disciplinary artist interested in exposing the complexities and contradictions in her everyday Black life. Trained as a sociologist and self-taught as an artist, Nandi’s work weaves the personal with the cultural and historical, creating thought-provoking juxtapositions of image and text. She found her way to art and media while earning her doctorate in sociology, often repurposing seminal texts and personal images as a way of finding her own visual language. Her works on paper use both personal and found images alongside book pages to interrogate her own life experiences within the context of the broader Black experience. Her film work explores the boundaries between ethnographic research, social justice and nonfiction storytelling. She is currently developing digital works and installations that explore the intersection of Black popular culture, knowledge production and digital archives. Nandi has Ph.D. in Sociology from New York University and a B.A. in Economics from Emory University. She lives in Los Angeles, CA with her husband and two children.
On Instagram: @its_nahn_dee
Website: nandijordan.com
Djakou Kassi Nathalie
“Selected Works
Djakou Kassi Nathalie (b. 1975) is a Cameroonian ceramicist based in Lagos, Nigeria. Inspired by art since her childhood, it's no surprise Djakou started her studio practice in 1998 after six years of study. The same year, she became an instructor in the only art school (Intitut de Formation Artistique) in Central Africa at Mbalmayo, Cameroon. There, she successfully introduced the "Material Technology" course into the school's curriculum.
In 2004, she was employed by Centre d’Art Appliqué of Mbalmayo, Cameroon as a ceramist and chief manager of the ceramic studio with whom she had local and international exhibitions. By 2011, she became the vice president of the craft association of her local government for 3 years. In 2013, she created a ceramic group DECERAM where she realized a lot of commissions. Coupled with many years of studio practice, Djakou Kassi Nathalie has worked with many renowned artists in their studios and obtained many distinctions, awards, and prizes in and out of Cameroon. She also trained many young artists in Cameroon and Nigeria.
Djakou Kassi Nathalie moved to Nigeria in 2015 to continue practicing her art, she has had many exhibitions including the two-man shows twice with Ato Arinze, titled "BEYOND FUNCTIONS." Since 2015, she has been a member of Society of Nigerians Artists (SNA), and since 2020, a member of Sculptors Association of Nigeria (ScAN). She has also participated in several group shows with many galleries in Lagos and Abuja.
For the International Women's Day in March 2018, she had a group exhibition at Wheatbaker Hotel organized by SMO contemporary art gallery. She also participated in a group exhibition with Alexis Galleries in March 2019 for the International Women's Day. Djakou's work was sold during an auction organized by SOGAL (Signature Gallery) in May 2019. She participated in the 9th China Changchun International Ceramic Symposium, and the exhibition in London, "SAY MY NAME," in October 2020 with Signature African Art gallery. She was also one of the female artists from Africa for "DEUS EX FEMINA'' exhibition that was held from March to April 2021 with Akka Project art gallery in Dubai, as well as a part of the group exhibition in France with ART & EXCEPTION from 11th to 14th of June 2021, and at Grand Palais in Paris France from 19th May to 18th of June 2022. In 2023, she participated in a group show in Cameroon with Annie Kadji gallerie and the recent exhibition in Dubai with Art Connects Women organized by Zee arts gallery. She also participated in many international online exhibitions with @bonartproject and @madlozigallery. Her works have appeared in many TV programs, newspapers and magazines, like Arts and Artists, Canvas, Daily Trust, Vanguard, TVC… Her works were also acquired by renowned collectors in Nigeria and abroad, like HRM Nnaemeka Achebe, the Obi of Onitsha, Mr Hakeem Adedeji, Access bank, an Indian collector Mohak Mehta, Nicole Kadji a Cameroonian collector and many others. She became an official member of GFA (Guild of Professional Fine Artists of Nigeria) in December 2023. Her works have been subject to many academic research and write-ups by students and Ph.D. researchers in Africa (Nigeria, Cameroon, Ghana, Poland, Egypt...) and in America at University of California Santa Barbara.
On Instagram: @djakoukassi
Kino Galbraith & Kelsey Van Ert
“Gold N Diamond”
Created in collaboration by Ikwe and Kino, “Gold N Diamond” is a song and filmed performance art piece. Composed by Ikwe, the song titled “Gold N' Diamond” is produced with Native American hand drum and electronic hip-hop music production. The lyrics illustrate the history of Black and Indigenous people being used and exploited for profit. It plays off of common hip-hop tropes such as flaunting one's wealth and clout in a braggadocious manner. However, the verses illustrate how Black and Indigenous people face systematic challenges that can keep us from gaining actual wealth. The video begins with neon lights that depict common imagery found in pawn shop windows. The neon sign imagery is followed by a performance of the character “Golden Blindian.” The “Golden Blindian'' is a Virgin Mary inspired false idol. She painted in gold and decorated with feathers, cowry shells, door knocker earrings, gold coins and diamonds. She represents the lies Christopher Colombus told in Spain and the weaponization of religion.
Kino Galbraith is a Jamaican-born, Brooklyn-based photographer and film artist. Kelsey is an African American and Ojibwe (Native American) performance artist, music producer, and storyteller from Minneapolis MN. They said, “As collaborators we challenge each other to use our mediums to respond to each other's work. Together our projects blend film with music, poetry, and performance art to amplify narratives of people of the African Diaspora and Native American people. Through our pieces we amplify our decolonization process, identity, communities, history, cultural practice, and experience.”
Bios:
Kino Galbraith is a Jamaican-born, Brooklyn-grown film artist and photographer. His work focuses on amplifying imagery of urban and sometimes rural spaces in New York City and around the world. He enjoys collaborating on creative projects with friends, many of whom are local artists of New York City, by documenting and highlighting their work with his camera. Kino’s work has been shown at The Shed NYC, The Center at West Park, the Wyckoff House’s Protest Garden Artist Residency funded by Lincoln Center, Brooklyn Prelude Festival, the SECCA (the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art), Yeehaw festival in Seattle, Washington, and Buckham Gallery in Flint, Michigan. Kino is also a member of Bear Canvas Sounds, a collective that curates spaces for local BIPOC artists to showcase their work.
On Instagram:@fka_niko
Kelsey Van Ert, also known artistically as Ikwe or Kelsey Pyro, is an African American and Ojibwe artist and musician from St. Paul & Minneapolis, and based in Brooklyn. Her practice incorporates storytelling, movement, film, as well as electronic and acoustic music composition. Kelsey is a two time recipient of the Brooklyn Arts Council Community Arts Grant (2018 & 2019). She is also a recipient of the 2022 AudioFemme Agenda Grant. She was a 2018 Artist In Residence and grant recipient at The Shed in Hudson Yards where she developed and presented her musical piece, “MAKADEWIIYAASIKWE”the Ojibwe word for, “a Black woman; a woman of African descent.” The work was later recorded during the 2019 Protest Garden artist in residency at The Wyckoff House. Her work has been presented at Lincoln Center Out of Doors, the Brooklyn Prelude Festival, SECCA (the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art) in Winston-Salem NC, Beckham Gallery in Flint MI, and SoundSet Music Festival in Minneapolis MN. Kelsey is currently a Music Technology Masters student at New York University.
Website: blackikweproject.com
On social media: https://linktr.ee/KelseytheIkwe
ABOUT WA NA WARI:
Sited in a fifth-generation, Black-owned home, Wa Na Wari is an immersive community art project that reclaims Black cultural space and makes a statement about the importance of Black land ownership in gentrified communities. Our mission is to create space for Black ownership, possibility, and belonging through art, historic preservation, and connection. Referred to as a "container for Black joy,” Wa Na Wari incubates and amplifies Black art and belonging while providing a safe space for organizing and movement building. By renting a house from a vulnerable Black homeowner, and giving that space back to the Black community, Wa Na Wari is an active model for how Black art and culture can combat gentrification and displacement.
Website: wanawari.org
On Facebook: www.facebook.com/wanawariseattle
On Instagram: @wanawariseattle
Wa Na Wari is located at 911 24th Ave, Seattle, WA 98122. Phone: (206) 485-7563
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Where is it happening?
Wa Na Wari, 911 24th Ave, Seattle, WA 98122-4861, United States,Seattle, WashingtonEvent Location & Nearby Stays:
