El Futuro Es Ya/The Future is Now
Thursday, January 13 - Thursday February 24, 2022
Opening: Thursday, January 13, 5 – 7:00 pm
On display at Tamayo Gallery at LATEA and LES Gallery at The Clemente
107 Suffolk Street
About “El Futuro es Ya/The Future is Now”
The multigenerational legacy of Afro-Latinidad is inspired by art movements from magical realism and fantasy and influenced by Afro-American and Latin leadership across disciplines. Through ever-evolving art forms, the people of the African diaspora continue to pursue and push for global human rights and social justice.
Martin Luther King, Jr.’s vision of equality and justice for all continues to inspire artists to consider and promote a deeper understanding of the historical and lived inequalities that prevent a more just society from emerging.
eMeLe-K 2022 aims to bring attention to the observance of domestic/international human rights with an emphasis on healing, reconciliation, and a more just future shared by all.
The “El futuro es ya” exhibition includes paintings, sculpture, objects, drawings, and other installations addressing Martin Luther King, Jr.’s vision in the context of today, and presents a vision of an Afro-centric future that is already emerging. Traces of Afrofuturism can be found in Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech. While Dr. King doesn’t blend science-fiction themes as he dwells on the problems and the hope for a better future for the black community in America, the ultimate goal of Afrofuturism — of elucidating people of color’s struggles, and offering a solution to those struggles — is very much present.
This year’s exhibition taps into multiple ways in which Afrofuturism explores and understands issues related to race, gender, class, and other social identities. Such explorations are conducted in an expanded field of representation where speculative visualization (science fiction?) abets a truer understanding of the history and cultural heritage of the African diaspora in the Americas and across the world.
Through various artists’ diverse approaches, the exhibit lays bare narratives of immigration twisted by politicians and the media and challenges the myths that attempt to belittle African roots. Afro Latin lives and dreams in the United States of America are represented within the context of the African American drive for broader social transformation.
About eMeLe-K
The eMeLe-K project is a heartfelt cultural homage to Dr. King's legacy, created by former New York Public Librarian, LES community member and author Rodger Taylor and Miguel Trelles, Executive/Artistic Director of Teatro LATEA at The Clemente Soto Velez Culture and Education Center.
Initiated in 2018, Trelles carried on the work of the eMeLe-K project after Rodger Taylor passed away in 2019.
eMele-K provides a forum where Afro-Latinos, African Americans and all who believe in and respect Dr. King's life example and memory can actively engage in artistic exchanges that celebrate the Civil Rights movement in the US and the tremendous contributions that Afro-Latinos have made and continue to make in society.
About the Artists
Curated by artist Alexis Mendoza, El Futuro Es Ya features work from several artists:
Anna Marie Abraz (Panamá) is an interdisciplinary artist whose work unfolds from poetry, critical theory, queer studies, political intersectionality, anti-colonial justice, and the redistribution of violence. Abraz defines themselves as a non-binary, Black person, born and raised in Panamá City. The sonic and visual features of words play an essential role in relating decolonial and gender disobedience in their work and are often the point of departure for performances, performative readings, and workshops. In recent years, Abraz has been investigating the relationship between monstrosity and humanity and the tensions between ethics, aesthetics, art, and politics.
Jane B. Arénalo Gonçalvez is a visual artist and curator from Bahía, Brazil. She completed a Doctorate degree in Communications and Semiotics at the Catholic University (PUC) of São Paulo. She is a Professor of Visual Arts at the Center of Arts and Humanities at the Federal University of the Recôncavo of Bahia (UFRB). The artist’s works – comprising installation, performance, photography, and audiovisual media – incorporate elements of Afro-Brazilian culture and have been featured in exhibits throughout the United States as well as in Europe. The works of Jane B. encapsulate elements of life in the Brazilian colonial era, apartheid and dreams of freedom. Her work can be found in collections in Europe, Latin America and the United States.
Mildor Chevalier is a Haitian visual artist. He lives and works in New York City Mildor holds an Associate Degree in Fine Arts from the School of Design at Altos del Chavón in the Dominican Republic. He also obtained a BFA at Parsons the New School for Design in NYC and an MFA from the Fashion Institute of Technology in NYC. Through painting, drawing or sculpture, Mildor creates scenes that explore human experience, wishes, and dreams. His multi-cultural experiences give him access to the world of global art and he has become an international artist with individual and collective exhibitions, biennials, and art fairs from Haiti to Quebec, from New York to Shanghai, from Paris to Santo Domingo.
Noel Copeland was born in Jamaica, and studied at the Jamaica School of Art in Kingston. Later, Noel went to Pratt Institute of Art and Design. Noel graduated with a MFA, with Honors, in Ceramics and Sculpture. Noel’s work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, and has received several commissions and awards. Noel currently lives and works in New York.
A. W. Martínez-Arellano an Afro-Peruvian contemporary photographer born 1969 in Lima, Perú best known for her large-scale photographs of the human form and essence. An underlying current in Abraz’s work is her reflection on our longing for spiritual connection and solidarity. Her work focused on the investigation of global African representation and its history. Her work often references the repetition of the main subject, character or elements, has been exhibited internationally, and is held in several collections around the world.
Joseph A. Mendieta Silva is a Honduran Garífuna artist who began his career in dance and theater. He later became a visual artist often working with sculptures, installations and performance. His work centers around the questions of western-white-supremacy, bringing focus to the performativities of these corporealities.
Ezequiel Taveras was born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic in 1965. He studied Fine Arts at the National School of Fine Arts, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic with specialization in Sculpture. He conducted the “Silk Aquatint” and “Solarplate” workshops, along with their creator Dan Welden, in the USA. He was a professor at the Altos de Chavón School of Design from 1994 to 2009 and has been their artist in residence on several occasions. He has also taught at the Iberoamérica University as well as Pedro Henríquez Ureña University. He has had 10 individual exhibitions, both at home and abroad.
