What’s Love Got to Do with It

The LetterToObama project is, among many things, an act of Love. This issue of Fo(u)r4, is an excerpt of LOVE: The Good, The Bad, The Abstract on view through Oct. 16 in NYC. LoveIsNeverQuiet…

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LOVE: The Good, The Bad, The Abstract

Curated by LAYLAH AMATULLAH BARRAYN

Among my wishes and even prayers is that we know love. And, in having that experience we are able to quickly recognize love, accept it without any fear or hesitation and then share. I pray that we develop and maintain the ability to unequivocally know that love is not present in circumstances where violence and neglect seek to assert itself. How awesome would it be to have boundless self-love that will translate into a fierce tenderness for neighbors, family and strangers we pass along our way, we would see ourselves in another persons eyes. I like to think that love is an heightened awareness. I like to think of love as a tremendous energy always available to tap into. It is the most comforting thing to know that love is always ready to serve.

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In this attempt to recognize love, I specifically choose photography as a medium for this exhibition. I wanted true life reflections of love in practice, images that could access viewers prior knowledge, photographs which one could relate. I also sought to include images that captured situations where love was abstractly presented and barely recognized, but, indeed present. There are many questions we should ask ourselves about love. I wanted these photographers to act as investigators into what is known as love, they question us, but question themselves as they point their cameras and release the shutter. Hopefully, we all walk away with some answers but more questions. I hope this visual convergence will inspire restless desire to seek love in all spaces and situations or even find and dismiss impostors of love.

LOVE: The Good, The Bad, The Abstract bears witness to love manifested, mislabeled and misunderstood. It shows residuals of love. This exhibition itself is also a gesture of love from curator to artist and from artist to curator; an experience of learning and sharing, giving and receiving, and most importantly growing.

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UNTITLED

IFÉTAYO ABDUS-SALAM

Please note that this image is the second in a set of two. The first was featured in the June 2010 Fo(u)r4.

ARTIST. STATEMENT.

My work deals with issues of race, class, gender, sexuality and ethnicity, serving as a form of visual exploration into contemporary social issues. I am interested in these issues, which have shaped so much of the history and fabric of American culture, and the manner in which they continue to permeate contemporary culture and thought. My hope is that my work can help foster discussion on those issues that remain difficult and uncomfortable to discuss. By confronting this discomfort, perhaps real change can begin.

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TO AMERICA, WITH LOVE

SIMONE ECCLESTON

ARTIST. STATEMENT.

Throughout the course of his presidential campaign, it seemed as if Barack Obama went from being America’s “knight in shining armor” to the world’s “superhero.”  While his election represented the realization of many people’s hopes and dreams and the promise of change, what we have somehow managed to forget is that he is still a human being-vulnerable, fallible, complex and ever changing in response to the situations and circumstances that surround him. As his legacy remains a work in progress, one can surmise that his dedication to America becoming the “next greatest version of itself” is a reflection of an unwavering commitment to something greater- love.

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NY AFRICAN (Harlem, USA)

& PATRIOTIC DEVELOPMENT (Kumasi, Ghana)

LARRY OSSEI-MENSAH

ARTIST. STATEMENT.

Photography is my visual observation of the varying degrees of human emotion and experiences encountered in our global village.  As a modern day flâneur, I toggle between documenting my micro-environment in New York City and engaging the macro-environment by virtue of my global exploration. This contextual combination serves as fertilizer in my deeper investigation to uncover “the universal truth”.  This “universal truth” illuminates the differences and similarities that bind individuals together as human beings. The true identity, feelings and moments that are frozen in time with the click of the camera’s shutter examines the ubiquitous questions revolving around culture and identity in our society. The embarkation on this journey seeks to unsheathe the “universal truth” that will ignite a broader dialogue about the “true” self, identity and culture.

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FROM DREAM TO FRUITION

MALIK WRIGHT

ARTIST. STATEMENT.

This photograph was taken at the 2009 inauguration of the 44th President of the United States of America, President Barack Hussein Obama.  The man in this photograph expressed that it is a rare occasion that he would drape himself in the American flag but on this day he would make an exception. My approach to photography is one in which I try to unearth sentiments of sincerity, deliberateness, melancholy, and sometimes joy from the subject I am focusing on. In doing so, it is my hope to connect the viewer with that which makes us all human and vulnerable. Whether it’s sadness, rage, exuberance or a familiar scene from ones past, these are all emotions that we can identify with and, at moments, they can work to bind us together.

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ABOUT THE ARTISTS… and CURATOR

CURATOR:

LAYLAH AMATULLAH BARRAYN is a self-taught photographer. She received her first official assignment in 1997 to shoot the Million Woman March, she was 17 years old. Since then, her images has been published and exhibited in several NYC galleries. She recently exhibited at Latin Collector Gallery, Museum of Contemporary Art in DC and is currently exhibited at Danny Simmons’ Corridor Gallery. Laylah has been selected as one of the young photographers to participate in ‘The Shootout’ exhibition honoring civil rights photographer Jack T. Franklin at the African American Museum in Philadelphia this August. Her photography has been included in the photo-anthology, BLACK: A Celebration of a Culture, co-published by the Smithsonian and edited by Dr. Deborah Willis and has been privately collected by art enthusiasts and collectors. Laylah is also co-editing, with Delphine Fawundu-Buford, an anthology of Black women photographers. Laylah is also a writer and began her career in the arts as a dancer.

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ARTISTS:

 

IFÉTAYO ABDUS-SALAM received a BFA in Photography and a BA in Africana Studies from New York University, Tisch School of the Arts, (2006), and a MAT in Teaching and Learning in Art and Design Education from The Rhode Island School of Design (2009). In addition to her career as a visual artist, Ifétayo is passionate about her work as an arts educator, utilizing the arts to promote expression and critical student discourse on contemporary issues. Ifétayo’s work has been published in Posing Beauty in African American Culture, Ed. Deborah Willis. W.W. Norton, 2009, the Fall 2006 publication of Exposure, vol. 39:2, and in Echoes: Poetry and Music from the Urban Edge, Ten Speed Press (2006). Ifétayo is the recipient of a Winter 2007 Cadre Bi Annual Arts Grant. Ifétayo Abdus-Salam lives and works in Harlem, New York City.

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SIMONE ECCLESTON is a NY based photographer that uses her camera as a tool for community building. She has exhibited work at Bronx River Art Center, La Pregunta Arts Café and The Pen & Brush, where she was the second place award winner for their 2008 Photography Exhibition, juried by Roy DeCarava. Her work has been published by the International Music Network, Harlem Stage, The Jazz Gallery and All About Jazz-New York. She has shot for MusicLoveLife.com, Harlem Stage, The Jazz Gallery, Ray Llanos Photography and independent artists. Most recently, she interned with Jazz at Lincoln Center’s curatorial team for In the Best Possible Light: Herman Leonard’s Jazz. Ms. Eccleston has also served as a Teaching Assistant for the Pre-Teen Program at ICP at the Point and has conducted photography workshops for young people in Harlem and Portobelo, Panama. She is the founder of The Lens of Love; a photography project dedicated to highlighting the multifaceted nature of love through community engagement and is currently working on a new music project due out in 2011. www.simoneeccleston.com

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LARRY OSSEI-MENSAH is an NYC art scene fixture: a photographer,  member of the Guggenheim’s Young Collectors Council Acquisition Committee and ACP, many know him as their go-to “art connector.” When he is not creating breath taking imagery, Larry can be found recording his journeys through contemporary art and culture at myglobalhustle.com.

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As a child in the Windy City, MALIK WRIGHT found frequent fascination with the daily movements of people around him.  In 1994, he was introduced to the art of photography, which he found to be the perfect medium with which to capture the essence of the human spirit.  Wright uses his work to illustrate the myriad emotions inherent in all aspects of the experience of life. Naturally drawn to subtle nuance, his photographic approach aims to capture the realities of humanity in their purest forms. Wright has dedicated his work to displaying the intricacies of mortality as they exist before us.  His mission is to heighten the viewer’s own soulful awareness while at once showcasing that which truly makes us human.  Wright received his B.A. In English with a concentration in Mass Communications from Virginia State University in May 2000 and currently resides in Brooklyn, NY.

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For the 44th on October 4th, 2010 by M. Liz Andrews, Laylah Amatullah Barrayn, IFÉTAYO ABDUS-SALAM, SIMONE ECCLESTON, LARRY OSSEI-MENSAH, MALIK WRIGHT, NeverQuiet Collective is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
Based on a work at www.LetterToObama.com.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at www.LetterToObama.com.

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