ART CELEBRATION OF LIFE: “Cheers To You, Friendsgiving,” by Ariel Dannielle.
COURIER LIFE, MARCH 5-11, 2021 29
OUR ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO THE BOROUGH OF KINGS
BY KEVIN DUGGAN
A new exhibit will showcase work
from 12 Black female artists at Industry
City, aiming to highlight the diversity
among artistic people of color that is often
ignored in mainstream culture.
“There’s a tendency to omit Black
women from that history and I wanted
to fi nd a way to correct that,” said the
show’s curator Tamecca Seril. “The
fact that this is a group exhibit is emblematic
of how diverse Blackness is.
Blackness is often projected as such a
monolith and I think that this show is
so opposite of that.”
The “Last Supper” display will
paint its way into the Makers Guild in
Building Five on weekends beginning
on Feb. 27, living at the Sunset Park
warehouse complex along with a sister
exhibit at the LatchKey Gallery in
Manhattan — featuring a wide variety
of works by Black women from around
the country and beyond.
The show was inspired by last summer’s
Black Lives Matter protests, and
specifi cally the movement to “Say Her
Name” that drew attention to the police
killing of Kentucky woman Breonna
Taylor and other women of color.
Seril wanted to promote Black
women and give them a platform
through their art in order to honor
their specifi c experiences in a more
positive light than police brutality.
“‘Say Her Name’ was always in a
name of tragedy and it was always too
late,” Seril said. “I wanted to give these
Black women their fl owers. Don’t wait
’til she’s gone, give her her fl owers. It’s
a celebration of life, a celebration of
creation.”
The show’s name references the biblical
story Jesus Christ’s fi nal meal,
along with the famous painting by
Leonardo da Vinci, which Seril used as
an example of artists erasing important
female fi gures like Mary Magdalene.
Instead, the show repurposes the title
to show how Black women are building
their own movements to support
each other.
“There’s a lot of talk about inclusivity,
but I think it’s more about building
your own table,” she said.
One of the works recreates the
iconic meal in a modern setting and
is called “Cheers To You, Friendsgiving,”
by Georgia-based painter Ariel
Dannielle, which shows mostly Black
women enjoying a potluck meal in a
very casual environment, with a mishmash
of dishes and one woman holding
her young child at the table.
That painting will be on show at
the Big Apple outpost on Canal Street,
while another work by Dannielle, called
“We Adapt,” at Industry City shows the
artist enjoying some boxed wine on her
bed while posing in front of a laptop — a
scene reminiscent of virtual hangouts
of the early COVID-19 quarantine era.
“The casualness of all of her work
and the fact that she puts herself front
and center in all of her work is beautiful,”
said Seril. “She’s that person that
captures the sentiment of young womanhood
and the perspective of a Black
woman millennial that we just don’t
see.”
The gallery has also launched a free
weekly virtual dinner party series
called “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner,”
inviting the artists to talk about
their work, which started Feb. 23 and
will continue on Tuesday evenings on
March 2 and 9.
Seats at
the table
Black female artists
celebrated at new
Industry City show
“Last Supper” at Industry City at the
Makers Guild in Building Five, second
fl oor, enter from 51 35th St., between
Second and Third avenues in Sunset
Park, or at 323 Canal St. in Manhattan,
www.latchkeygallery.com. Weekends
from Feb. 27-March 20, noon-6 pm.
Tuesday-Friday by appointment. Free.
The free virtual dinner party series
“Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” is
on March 2 and 9 at 7 pm, RSVP info@
latchkeygallery.com for links and details.
LatchKey Gallery
/www.latchkeygallery.com
/www.latchkeygallery.com
/latchkeygallery.com