Harlem’s Studio Museum, renowned for its patronage of African-American artists, has announced the latest artist-in-residence in a program that has fostered creative greats such as David Hammons, Kelly James Marshall and Nideka Akuniri Crosby.
They are Devin N. Morris, Charisse Parlina Weston and Jeffrey Mellis. The residency includes a $25,000 scholarship, studio space, developmental coaching, and a group exhibition at the end of the program.
The three artists will work from their temporary space, Studio Museum 127, as a new building designed by David Adjaye, one of the architects of Washington’s National Museum of African American History and Culture, is under construction. do. This year, the Glenstone Museum Foundation donated his $10 million to the program, according to Studio Museum.
Thelma Golden, the museum’s maestro and chief curator, is thrilled to welcome new artists each year, encouraging residents to pursue self-exploration and revealing how their work speaks to viewers. said he encouraged them to do so.
“The selection of a new cohort of artists is exciting because it not only brings the potential to engage with these new artists, but it also has the potential to bring them into the history of this organization,” Golden said. .
Founded in 1968, the museum got its name from its residency program, ‘The Studio’. Golden said many artists sought inspiration and found community in Harlem.
Born in Baltimore and spent the past eight months exploring cities in Brazil and the northeastern United States, Morris draws inspiration for his work from the spaces he lives in and the everyday experiences of black and queer people. He combines painting, photography, writing, video and found objects to create environments of personal innocence, kinship and even humor.
“I’m really interested in what it’s like to live in Harlem as an actual place, the physicality, and what that means to me as a black American,” said Morris, 36, who moved into the neighborhood. This week.
Houston-born Brooklyn native, 33-year-old Weston is a conceptual artist who uses glass sculpture, sound, text, video, and photography to communicate themes of non-standard black representation. Layering, repeating, and enveloping, she said, her work creates moments of cover-up as a form of black resistance.
All of Weston’s work, she said, returns to her interest in poetry, along with the gaps and opacities found in black intimate spaces.
“We live in an era where everything is about consumption and everything is about hypervisibility, but that visibility is not neutral,” said Weston.
Mellis, 31, said the residency program was a turning point in his career as he navigated his identity as a person of African descent.
“In terms of being part of this truly rich legacy of having conversations with the artists I look up to, who have modeled my career, or who have helped me find myself. I’m curious what this means: the road and my own voice,” said Mellis.
Born in Haiti and raised in Nassau, Bahamas, Mellis said before the pandemic, his work gave a social lens to the black experience. Through his sculpture, metalworking and casting techniques, Mellis says he connects everyday processes and objects as a soothing expression of himself. In his work, he hopes to reach out to those who need it most.
“I make art that I want the world to see, for people who look like me,” he said.