Light & Shadow: Rethinking Visual Spaces

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LIGHT & SHADOW: RETHINKING VISUAL SPACES JUNE 15TH - AUGUST 19TH

Donna Diamond Valeria Divinorum Samantha Holmes Mona Saeed Kamal Leonardo Madriz Geoffrey Owen Miller Sohhee Oh Michael Young Curator: Lizzy Alejandro CURATOR STATEMENT Light & Shadow: Rethinking Visual Spaces highlights the works of eight artists who incorporate light and shadow to create visually powerful narratives. Through photography, digital media, 3D works, and timebased technologies, these artists present a unique exploration of the use of light and its absence from varied creative perspectives. Featuring the work of artists Donna Diamond, Valeria Divinorum, Samantha Holmes, Mona Saeed Kamal, Leonardo Madriz, Geoffrey Owen Miller, Sohhee Oh, and Michael Young, this exhibit is an invitation to explore how each of these artists’ practices investigate the physical

and psychological elements of light and shadow. Some of the artists use technology in their works to engage viewers to experience light’s relationship to our environment and ecosystems. Others challenge the dichotomy of light and shadow, and the host of metaphors that depend on that physical divide—black and white, right and wrong, past and present. These works give us a new perspective on how to experience light (or lack thereof) creatively and thematically.

Donna Diamond explores light as an emotive language that reveals forms—whether evaporating or deconstructing them. Intrigued by the idea of imagined light to hover between representational and nonrepresentational work, Diamond’s drawings investigate this duality.

Valeria Divinorum uses her stained-glass sculptures as lenses to explore new forms relating to spatial interaction. By inserting light and projection into a single sculpture, Divinorum creates new dispersions of light in a physical space, contributing to the activation her work. The paper lattices in Samantha Holmes’ series, Open Windows IX, are comprised of intricate patterns of gilded cut paper that overlap one another. Light seeps through the negative spaces, causing shadows to leak onto the wall behind, intertwining with the form itself, and acting as an extension of the work. Mona Saeed Kamal’s use of negative space acts as a visual device and central narrative. Kamal’s sculpture, a woman donning a burqa, is a direct response to “The Politics of Hajj,” an essay written

by Aisha Sattar in which the author tells a story about an eye-opening experience during a visit to Mecca. Kamal engraves the chapter “The Women” from the Quran on Masonite, confronting how societies, both in the East and the West, choose to interpret the Quran for their own benefit. Leonardo Madriz projects overlapping vignettes and text onto installation structures, revealing a genre-blurring narrative referencing his family history. Madriz’s personal narrative centers around issues of migration, assimilation, national identity, and decolonization. Weaving intimate family moments with cinematic abstractions, we take a closer look at the meshing of intergenerational experiences and diasporic

perspectives. Using a variety of mixed plastics, Geoffrey Owen Miller constructs a boundless space of creatures suspended from the ceiling over a reflective surface. Light is used to create the intense colors of these upside-down sculptures of flora and fauna, amplifying the hues to a higher chroma. Sohhee Oh creates lively digital worlds with playful humor and rich detail, while retaining a balance of composition. Oh toys with negative space and light to create conceptual, surreal illustrations of cityscapes. The geometry of her work makes flat surfaces appear to have immense depth and space, playing with the physics of light. Michael Young’s documentary style photographs possess a poetic approach as he uses light and shadow to abstract ephemeral moments in New York City. Young takes to the streets and highways of New York using bold and unbalanced composition, engaging us to witness intimate and quiet points in time throughout a bustling, fast-paced environment.

CURATOR BIO Lizzy Alejandro is a Bronx-based visual artist and curator. She received her MFA in Digital Media from Lehman College in 2019.

Her work explores themes of identity and challenges notions of the status quo.

Alejandro’s work has been exhibited at Fordham University, Taller Boricua Gallery, Lehman College Art Gallery, Bronx Art Space, Andrew Freedman Home, Lincoln Hospital, the Galleries at Krasdale Foods, the Bronx Latin American Art Biennial, Empty Set Gallery, Longwood Art Gallery, El Barrio’s Artspace PS109, Riverfront Art Gallery, and most recently at Bethany Arts Community.

While working with BronxArtSpace from 2012-2015, Alejandro assisted with several curatorial projects. In June 2021, Alejandro made her curatorial debut with The Sacred Masculine at BronxArtSpace.

Alejandro lives and works in The Bronx. She is the Longwood Art Gallery @ Hostos Coordinator.

PUBLIC PROGRAMS Opening Wednesday, June 15th, 2022 | 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM Public Program Wednesday, July 6th, 2022 | 6:00 PM - 7:30 PM Closing Reception Friday, August 19th, 2022 | 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM

Longwood Art Gallery @ Hostos Hostos Community College 450 Grand Concourse, Room C-190 (at 149th Street) Bronx, NY 10451 Gallery Hours Tuesdays & Thursdays - 12:00 PM - 6:00 PM Wednesdays - 2:00 PM - 6:00 PM

Longwood Arts Project The Longwood Arts Project is the contemporary visual arts program of the Bronx Council on the Arts, with the mission to support artists and their work, especially emerging artists from underrepresented groups, such as people of color, the LGBTQ+ community, and women. The Longwood Art Gallery @ Hostos presents solo and group exhibitions of works of art produced in various media, through interdisciplinary practices that connect emerging artists, communities, and ideas within and beyond The Bronx.

The Bronx Council on the Arts Founded by visionary community leaders in 1962, The Bronx Council on the Arts (BCA) is a pioneer in advancing cultural equity in The Bronx. From our early beginnings as a presenter of affordable arts programming in select Bronx neighborhoods, we have grown into a cultural hub that serves the entire creative ecosystem of the borough. Our programs serve artists, the public, and the field at large by building connections, providing resources, and advocating for equitable practices. Then as now, we focus on supporting the work of underrepresented groups – especially artists of color, women, and members of the LGBTQ+ community. Through this lens we offer affordable programs for seniors and youth, and provide direct services to over 1,500 artists and 250 community-based arts groups each year. www.bronxarts.org The Hostos Center for the Arts and Culture An integral part of Hostos Community College/CUNY since 1982, the Hostos Center for the Arts & Culture, which includes two state-of-the-art theaters of 900 and 360 seats each, a black box experimental theater, and a museum-grade art gallery, is a resource for students and faculty in addition to serving the cultural needs of South Bronx residents and neighboring communities. Recognized nationally as a leader in Latin and African-based programming, the Hostos Center creates performing and visual arts forums in which the diverse cultural heritages of its audiences are celebrated and cultivated. In meeting that objective, the Center is dedicated to the development of emerging artists and the creation of new work. www.hostoscenter.org

LONGWOOD ART GALLERY @ HOSTOS YOUTH ENGAGEMENT PROGRAM Longwood’s Youth Engagement Program, launched in 2018, is designed to engage Bronx youth with the rich visual arts scene that surrounds them. By providing gallery experiences they can relate to – and interactions with artists who reside in the same neighborhoods, share similar cultural identities, and even nations of origin – young people gain formative experiences of cultural engagement that last a lifetime.

Activities are free, age-appropriate, and created by professional teaching artists to foster critical thinking, interviewing and public speaking skills. If your organization, school, or group works with youth and would like to discuss scheduling a workshop or to arrange a visit, connect with us!

Contact longwood@bronxarts.org to schedule a workshop for your group.

Illustration by Ruben Ramirez

DONNA DIAMOND Donna Diamond was born and raised in New York City. She attended Boston University School of Art and received a BFA in Sculpture. Encouraged

by Robert Blackburn, she pursued printmaking at the Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop. Ms. Diamond is a recipient of the 2017 NYSCA/ NYFA Artist Fellowship, and was selected as a New York City Gregory Millard Named Fellow. She is also a 2017 recipient of an AE Ventures Foundation grant in recognition of the breadth of her artistic work. She is a four-time winner of the BRIO Award from the Bronx Council on the Arts in the categories of Drawing, Printmaking, and Book Arts, and was the subject of the Bronx Council on the Arts “Artists’ Spotlight”. Ms. Diamond has been published and exhibited by Cannonball Press, and has participated in the New York Print Club’s “Artists’ Showcase”. Her work was recently featured in “On Paper - The Journal of the Washington Print Club”, and several articles on her work and artistic process appear on the art blog ”Art I See”. Creating prints and drawings, Ms. Diamond has also created art for books, where her work met with critical success. Ms. Diamond’s work has been widely exhibited across the United States, as well as internationally, in galleries and museums that include the International Print Center New York, the Bronx Museum, Instituto Cultural Peruano Norteamericano - Printmaking International Biennial in Peru, the Edinburgh Printmakers Gallery in Scotland, the Joel and Lila Harnett Museum of Art in Virginia, the Monmouth Museum in New Jersey, the Robert Blackburn 20/20 Gallery in New York City, the Manhattan Graphics Center in New York City, the Washington Printmakers Gallery in Maryland, and the Longwood Gallery in the Bronx. Ms. Diamond is currently creating drawings, prints, and books in her studio and at the Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop.

Donna Diamond, Botanical Light III, 2017, Sepia ink and brush on paper, 28in H x 20in W.

VALERIA DIVINORUM Valeria Divinorum’s work specializes in stainedglass sculptural objects, which she uses as a lens to experiment with the intangible properties of light.

She has a deep interest in exploring the optical perception of space through traditional and new media techniques, creating dispersion of light into spectral components. Her practice embodies light and shadows, finding new forms relating to spatial interaction by the interpenetration of space into one single sculpture. A major theme in Valeria’s work is the human connection with nature and the organic expressions that emerge from that relationship. In flowers, fractal patterns appear, and geometric compositions become apparent. Through these geometric patterns, we can witness the perfect balance of life and creation in the spiraled recurrence of time and space. Valeria Divinorum is a Queens-based visual artist and architect with formal training in the school of Architecture in Buenos Aires. She has attended residencies in Argentina and the US and has created works for a variety of contexts including galleries, live performances, and site-specific installations. She is currently an Adjunct Professor of New Media Art at LaGuardia Community College and teaches art workshops at BronxWorks Senior Center and public schools through Lehman College Art Gallery. Recent exhibitions include El Hipercubo (Buenos Aires, Arg.) Space Light (LIC, NY), Gowanus Night Heron (BK, NY), Lumina (LIC, NY), Illusional (New York, NY), Paradise Palace-Light Windows (BK, NY), Rear Vision (Madrid, Spain), and Bangkok Biennale (Bangkok, Thailand). She has created light-based sculptural installations at Chashama (New York, NY) The Plaxall Gallery (Queens, NY) Flux Factory (LIC, NY), The Wassaic Project (Wassaic, NY), and others. In 2013, she started her research of the process of Tiffany technique and the principles of sacred geometry with her mentor Andres Jacob at “Taller Escuela del Sur” in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She is a member of the collective Salvia Divinorum, a recipient of the 2021

NYC Artist Corps Grant. Press for her work includes The NY Post, Stir, 440 Gallery, Time Out NY, NY1.com, and Glass Roots, among others. She has a passion for creating works for the public and with the public to embrace connectedness and democratize art making for people in our community.

Valeria Divinorum, The Hyper Dimension, 2021, Stained glass, mixed media, Varied dimensions

SAMANTHA HOLMES Samantha Holmes is a Bronx-based artist whose work introduces distortion to historical patterns and images to explore the disparity between the certainties of ideology and the fractured nature of contemporary living. Her work has been exhibited internationally, including at the Palazzo Fortuny (Venice) in conjunction with the 2015 Venice Biennale, the Bronx Museum of the Arts (NYC), and the Sharjah Art Museum (UAE), and her public art commissions include the NYC Department of Transportation, NYC Parks Department, Franconia Sculpture Park (Minnesota), and the ARTPLAY Design Center (Moscow). She is a recipient of the 2018 Meyer Family Award for Contemporary Art, the 2013 RAM Prize for Mosaic, and the 2011 International GAEM Art Prize from the Museum of the City of Ravenna, Italy, which holds her work in its permanent collection. Past residencies include Vermont Studio Center, Jerome Foundation, The Watermill Center, and the Bronx Museum of the Arts, among others. She holds degrees from Harvard University (BA, Visual and Environmental Studies, 2006) and the Accademia di Belle Arti in Ravenna (MFA, Experimental Mosaic, 2014), and is cofounder of the custom mosaic studio Motivo Mosaic in New York.

Samantha Holmes, Open Windows IX, 2018, Gold leaf on paper, 74in H x 82in W x 2in D

MONA SAEED KAMAL Mona Kamal is a multi-media installation and video artist who creates multi-media narratives about migration, journeys, and identities. Through questioning religion, conflict, and borders, she creates stories that directly confront her personal experiences and the lives of people living in the many cultures that she lays claim to.

Mona has an Artist career that expands twenty years. She has exhibited both internationally and nationally. She has had solo exhibitions at Wave Hill in the Bronx, and at VM Art Gallery in Karachi, Pakistan. She also has exhibited in New Delhi, India, at Gallery Espace, and has exhibited extensively in Canada and the United States including at the Arts Westchester, Art Gallery of Calgary, the Harbourfront Centre and YYZ Artists’ Outlet in Canada. In New York she has exhibited at Smack Mellon, the Queens Museum of Art, Exit Art, and Rush Arts. Mona has held residencies at the Banff Centre in Canada, the Sanskriti Foundation in New Delhi, India, and she was a media arts fellow at Bric Media Arts in 2015. She has received grants from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts, PSC CUNY Grants for Adjuncts, the Ontario and Toronto Arts Councils, and the Canada Council for the Arts. Her work has been reviewed in The News International (Pakistan), Hyperallergic and The New York Times. Mona received her BFA from NSCAD in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and her MFA from Parsons the New School for Design.

She currently lives and works in New York City.

Mona Saeed Kamal, The Women, 2014, Engraved Masonite, spray paint, gold powder, 12ft H x 4ft W

LEONARDO MADRIZ Leo Madriz (b.1987, Louisiana) is an interdisciplinary artist based in Brooklyn, New York. He holds an MFA from CUNY Hunter College (NY, 2021) and a BFA from Louisiana State University (2010). His first solo show is forthcoming at NARS Foundation (Brooklyn, NY) in early 2023, and Letters to Home, Pt. 1, will be exhibited at CURRENTS New Media Festival (Santa Fe, NM) in June 2022. Recent group shows in New York include Lucky to Be Here, Bronx Council on the Arts (2021); Heaven, 205 Hudson Street Gallery (2021); Orphans of Painting II, Ethan Cohen KuBe (2019); and Waiting for the Garden of Eden, White Box Gallery (2019). His work has been featured by Hyperallergic and Hauser & Wirth.

Leonardo Madriz, Skylight (Tragarás Luz), 2022, Projection on wooden window frame installation, 32in H x 28in W x 29in D

GEOFFREY OWEN MILLER Geoffrey Owen Miller is an internationally exhibited interdisciplinary artist. Recent NYC shows include SPRING/BREAK 2020 and the Wave Hill Sunroom Project Space, 2019. Recent group exhibitions have been presented at Sculptorʼs Alliance on Governors Island, NY; K&P Gallery, New York, NY; Fully Booked, Dubai, UAE; Louisiana Tech University’s School of Design, Ruston, LA; Art Space | DA:MDAA, Seoul, Korea; The Santa Fe Art Institute, Santa Fe, NM; The Royal Society of American Artists, Brooklyn, NY; AHL Foundation, New York, NY; Gateway Project, Newark, NJ; Guilin Museum of Art, Guilin, China, 5-50 Gallery, New York, NY among others. Miller received his MFA from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA and BFA from University of California, Long Beach, CA. Geoffrey Owen Miller currently teaches about color and light at Montclair State University and Marymount Manhattan College. He has previously taught at the Maryland Institute College of Art, and the Korea National University of Art. He was born in Los Alamos, New Mexico, and currently lives in Queens.

Geoffrey Owen Miller, Swallowtail, 2018, Plastic film and glass box, 12in H x 5in W x 5in D

SOHHEE OH Sohhee Oh (Seoul, South Korea) is an artist who works in a variety of media. Her work and practices in art vary from painting to installation and architecture design. She studied art at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and at SUNY Purchase, as well as scenography at Kaywon Art & Design School in Korea and a Master of Architecture from Pratt Institute. Her works include public art installations at Concrete Plant Park, Grand Concourse with Bronx Museum of the Arts, and Golden Door presented by the Bronx River Art Center. Her latest installation, Sectional Revelation, was recently showcased at Empty Set Gallery Space in Port Morris.

Sohhee currently lives and works in New York.

Sohhee Oh, Grand Concourse (walk ups), 2017, Digital print, 24in H x 36in W x 2in D

MICHAEL YOUNG Michael Young is a Street and Documentary photographer born and raised in Brooklyn and currently resides in the Bronx, New York, with his wife Kenya and Daughter Nya. His love of light and shadow fuels his passion for creating his imagery. His work has been featured in The New York Times, and Digital Photo Magazine. He has exhibited at The Bronx Documentary Center and Perspectives, curated by Jamel Shabazz, and Laylah Amatullah Barrayn for Photoville. Michael is also a curator and contributing photographer for the Instagram feed Everyday Black America.

Michael Young, Lost Souls, 2016, Photo mounted on foam core, 20in H x 16in W

LIGHT & SHADOW All works courtesy of the artists unless otherwise noted.

Donna Diamond, Botanical Light II, 2017, Sepia ink and brush on paper, 28in H x 20in W

Donna Diamond, Botanical Light III, 2017, Sepia ink and brush on paper, 28in H x 20in W

Donna Diamond Unanswered Questions XIII, 2018 Brush and ink on paper 24in H x 18in W

Donna Diamond Unanswered Questions XII, 2018 Brush and ink on paper 24in H x 18in W

Valeria Divinorum The Hyper Dimension, 2021 Stained glass, mixed media Varied dimensions

Valeria Divinorum I Break, 2021 Video Made in collaboration with Flavia Bertorello

Samantha Holmes Open Windows IX, 2018 Gold leaf on paper 74in H x 82in W x 2in D

Mona Saeed Kamal The Women, 2014 Engraved Masonite, spray paint, gold powder 12ft H x 4ft W

Leonardo Madriz Skylight (Tragarás Luz), 2022 Projection on wooden window frame installation 32in H x 28in W x 29in D

Geoffrey Owen Miller Swallowtail, 2018 Plastic film and glass box 12in H x 5in W x 5in D

Geoffrey Owen Miller Albatross, 2018 Plastic film and glass box 12in H x 5in W x 5in D

Sohhee Oh Grand Concourse (walk ups), 2017 Digital print 24in H x 36in W x 2in D

Michael Young Lost Souls, 2016 Photo mounted on foam core 20in H x 16in W

Michael Young Lunch in the Shadows, 2016 Photo mounted on foam core 20in H x 16in W

Michael Young Anonymity, 2018 Photo mounted on foam core 16in H x 20in W

Michael Young The Moment and The Hour, 2017 Photo mounted on foam core 20in H x 16in W

The Bronx Council on the Arts is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council; New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature; Arts Midwest and the National Endowment for the Arts; the Coalition of Theaters of Color; the Cultural Immigrant Initiative; City Councilmember Eric Dinowitz and former Councilwoman Vanessa Gibson; NYS Assemblymember Michael Benedetto and the NYS Division of Criminal Justice; and the Hispanic Federation, the City of New York, and the Department of Youth and Community Development. Also supported in part by the New Yankee Stadium Community Benefits Fund, Con Edison, the Howard Gilman Foundation, the Mertz Gilmore Foundation, the Lilly Auchincloss Foundation, and Amazon. Special thanks to Hostos Community College and the Hostos Center for the Arts & Culture for their support.

Bronx Council on the Arts 2700 E Tremont Ave Bronx, New York 10461 www. bronxarts.org @BronxArtsOrg

Cover Image Credit: Geoffrey Owen Miller, Albatross, 2018 Plastic film and glass box, 12in H x 5in W x 5in D