Migration Narratives Curator Talk @ Pelham Art Center

Pelham Art Center presents Migration Narratives Curator Talk on Thursday, February 27 at 6pm with Independent Curator, Lisa A. Banner. Learn more about the kinetic sculpture, installation, drawing, painting, and video presented in the exhibition Migration Narratives on view through March 29, 2014. This intimate conversation will reveal the stories of individual transitions from one state of being to another found within the work.

Migration Narratives are the stories of individual transitions from one state of being to another. They are stories, or narratives, that mark and divine changes in life that take place along that trajectory from one place, physical and spiritual, to another. Historical Migration Narratives are the histories of freed slaves who moved north, away from what was known and binding---slavery, captivity, oppression----to something that was completely unknown and new---self-determination, discovery, and experimentation with life----and both types of narratives are deeply human.  When applied to contemporary life, this concept of a migration narrative reveals the personal histories of families, and individuals, as they move through time and across time, to
new places.

Immigration, a movement into a new place, like Migration, the movement of creatures from one habitat to another, is not determined by physical or political statements or borders, but by the inner need and determination to move, and change one's situation, be it internal or external, determined by self, or by nature.

Artists who are new immigrants, first generation Americans, or reflective immigrants to a new way of life are expressive storytellers of such personal narrative. Their stories have a broad appeal. Monika Bravo, Erika Harrsch, Timothy Hawkesworth, Doug Jeck, María Noël, Eliana Pérez, and Christopher Smith reflect differing ways of seeing these migrations of people through time, and through states of being. Their work is expressed in kinetic sculpture, installation, drawing, painting, and video narratives.

 
All work is for sale. Proceeds help support our operating expenses. Price list available by request.


About the Curator
Lisa A. Banner is an independent curator and art historian who is a Visiting Associate Professor at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn.  She has published several artist interviews with Site95 Journal, in addition to extensive publications on Spanish baroque art in Master Drawings, and a recent catalogue of Spanish Drawings in the Princeton University Art Museum (Yale University Press, 2013). As an independent curator she has worked on shows for The Frick Collection, the Museo del Prado, and other venues. Banner has also been a Research Fellow at the National Gallery of Canada, and Samuel H. Kress Curatorial Fellow at The Hispanic Society of America. Recently, she curated several contemporary art exhibitions, including "Light Matter,” and “Vital Signs: The Enigma of Identity” at the Pelham Art Center, as well as a series of installations in the Great Hall at the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, and a forthcoming exhibition in the Schafler Gallery at Pratt Institute.

###

Pelham Art Center   155 Fifth Avenue   Pelham, NY 10803   914-738-2525   info@pelhamartcenter.org

Hours: Tuesday–Friday, 10–5pm; Saturday, 10–4pm

Directions: Located 5 blocks from the Hutchinson Parkway exit 12 and 2 blocks from the Metro North Pelham stop

These events and programs are made possible, in part, by the ArtsWestchester with funds from Westchester County Government. Pelham Art Center also receives funding from: New York State Council on the Arts, A State Agency; Westchester Jewish Community Services; Nurses Network of America; Town of Pelham; Strypemonde Foundation; New York Multi-Arts Centers Consortium; New Rochelle Campership Fund; Bistro Rollin; Robin’s Art+Giving; Nycon; Junior League of Pelham, Amani Charter School; Prospect Hill Lunchtime Enrichment; Yellowbook; Members; and Annual Fund Donors.