From the Deep Tours with Ayana V. Jackson

For one day only, join Artist Ayana V. Jackson for a special artist tour of From the Deep: In the Wake of Drexciya.
In From the Deep: In the Wake of Drexciya, the first major institutional exhibition to travel to MOA from the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art, American artist Ayana V. Jackson draws inspiration from the mythic underwater world imagined by Detroit techno duo Drexciya. Through her work, Jackson creates a feminist, Pan-African aquatopia inhabited by water spirits from African and Afro-Atlantic traditions.
Through photography, immersive video, animation, and installation, From the Deep unfolds as an enchanting, contemplative environment that transforms the Atlantic Ocean from a site of trauma brought by the slave trade to a realm of speculative fiction. Myth and memory converge to tell stories of ancestry, resilience, and the enduring afterlives of the Middle Passage. In her Afrofuturist world, Jackson offers visitors a space for reflection and repair.
Tours last approximately one hour. Capacity of 30 people per tour; first come, first served.
Schedule
11:30 am
1:30 pm
Included with museum admission
Bio
Ayana V. Jackson (b. 1977, East Orange, NJ) is an artist based in Brooklyn and Johannesburg. Her work critiques the colonial gaze and reimagines historical narratives of the Black diaspora. By restaging 19th- and early 20th-century portraiture, often casting herself in historical roles, she challenges photography’s role in shaping racial and gendered identities. Jackson’s work explores the ethical dynamics between photographer, subject, and viewer. It is held in major collections including the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; the Studio Museum in Harlem; and the National Gallery of Victoria. A 2014 NYFA Fellow, 2018 Smithsonian Fellow, and most recently Pollock-Krasner Foundation award recipient, Jackson founded the STILL Art residency in Johannesburg in 2021.
LEARN MORE: https://moa.ubc.ca/event/from-the-deep-tours-with-ayana-v-jackson/