Welancora Speaks: Helen Ramsaran in Conversation with Anita Bateman, Ph.D.

Join us on Thursday, November 7 at 6pm for another edition of Welancora Speaks! In support of Helen Evans Ramsaran's second solo exhibition, Strange Fruit, we are excited to host an artist talk between the artist and curator Anita N. Bateman, Ph.D. This talk will take place in a hybrid format -- please feel free to visit us in person (RSVP on Eventbrite) or join via Zoom (RSVP by clicking here).

The works on view in Strange Fruit were created in response to the history of lynchings and the utilization of the woods and forest as sites of terrorist activity in the American South; this subject matter is a departure from the themes that Ramsaran is known for addressing in her work, primarily ancient African architecture, their way of life and reverence for nature, and other indigenous cultures. Instead, this new series deals directly with the brokenness of the African-American experience and the fruitfulness that it produced. The exhibition includes a wall installation, tablets inspired by ancient scribes, a grouping of tabletop sculptures, and three large works that use trees, vines and the female body to directly reference the trauma experienced and endured as a result of racial violence. Visit our website to learn more about this exhibition. Strange Fruit is on view through January 4, 2025.

For approximately six decades, Helen Evans Ramsaran has been a risk taker and a force of nature; tenacious in her quest to achieve her vision in a singular, concentrated direction. She has charted her own path in exploring ancient African architecture and other indigenous traditions, capturing in bronze the secrets that mark the passage of time, elements from nature and the mysteries of worlds and creatures real and imagined. With solo exhibitions in the 1990’s and early 2000’s at the Chrysler Museum, the Studio Museum in Harlem and the Museum of Natural History in New York under her belt, Ramsaran’s new work is infused with more recent historical references that continue to communicate the cerebral and physical tension of her earlier work.

Born in Bryan, Texas, Ramsaran grew up in Ohio and moved to New York in 1973. She received a Bachelor of Science degree in Art Education (1965) and a Masters of Fine Art in sculpture (1968) from Ohio State University, where she studied bronze casting in wax under David Black and welding with John Freeman. She continued to hone her skills at the Seward Johnson Atelier in Princeton, New Jersey.
From 1968 to 1969, Ramsaran taught at Florida A&M University and later at Bowie State University in Maryland from 1970 to 1973. She studied photography at The New School for Social Research in New York (1973–74), and anatomical drawing at the Art Students League in New York from 1975 to 1976. In 2008, Ramsaran retired as an associate professor of sculpture at John Jay College of the City University of New York. Visit our website to learn more about Ramsaran and to view more of her works.

Dr. Anita N. Bateman (she/her) is the Vice President of Creative Direction at the Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture in Charlotte, NC. She has held previous curatorial positions at the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, TX; the RISD Museum at Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, RI; the Williams College Museum of Art in Williamstown, MA; and the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University in Durham, NC.
Bateman holds a Ph.D. in Art History and Visual Culture from Duke University, a Master’s in Art History from Duke University, and completed her undergraduate degree in Art History, graduating cum laude from Williams College. Her academic research has been supported by the American Council of Learned Societies, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation, and the Social Science Research Council. Bateman was a 2024 Villa Albertine Museum Next Generation laureate, the Fall 2022 ARCAthens Curatorial Fellow and a 2022 Graham Foundation Grantee for the publication, "Where is Africa" (Center for Art, Research, and Alliances), co-edited with Emanuel Admassu. Her research interests include the history of photography, Black feminism/womanism, and the role of social media in activism and liberation work.

Helen Evans Ramsaran

Nightmare, 2024

Bronze with black patina and bronze highlights

Dimensions variable

On view at Welancora Gallery

Host or Publisher Welancora Gallery