Join us on Saturday, March 26 at 3pm for an in-person tour of our current exhibitions, led by exhibiting artists Victoria-Idongesit Udondian and Moko Fukuyama, and moderated by Smack Mellon’s Curator, Rachel Vera Steinberg. The artists will discuss the process of creating their respective installations as well as the conceptual, cultural, and political ideas that drive their work. Victoria-Idongesit Udondian will address the social process of weaving her large-scale textile sculptures in tandem with the historic and ongoing links between immigration and labor. Moko Fukuyama will lead a tour of her new body of work that uses her own practice as a filmmaker to probe the idea of screen surfaces to address topics of labor, subjectivity, and constructed realities. This event will be available via Instagram Live.
Attendance for this performance will be on a first-come, first-serve basis, no pre-registration required. Please be aware of Smack Mellon’s updated COVID Courtesy Code prior to entry.
Bios:
Victoria-Idongesit Udondian’s work is driven by her interest in textiles and the potential for clothing to shape identity, informed by the histories and tacit meanings embedded in everyday materials. She creates interdisciplinary projects that question notions of cultural identity and post-colonial positions in relation to her experiences growing up in Nigeria. In 2020, Udondian was named a Guggenheim Fellow. Her works have been exhibited internationally, including The Inaugural Nigerian Pavilion at the 56th Venice Biennial-An Excerpt; Fisher Landau Center for the Arts, New York; The Bronx Museum, New York; The Children Museum of Manhattan, New York; The National Museum, Lagos and Lokoja, Nigeria; Whitworth Gallery in Manchester, Centre for Contemporary Arts, Lagos, Nigeria etc. Some of her Artist Residencies include Instituto Sacatar, Bahia, Brazil; Mass Moca, Massachusetts, USA; Fine Arts Work Center (FAWC), Provincetown; USA; Villa Straulli, Winthethur, Switzerland; Fondazione di Venezia, Venice, Italy; and Bag Factory Studios, Johannesburg, South Africa. Udondian is currently a Visiting Associate Professor at the University at Buffalo. She received an MFA in Sculpture and New Genres from Columbia University, New York, attended Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, and earned a BA in painting from the University of Uyo, Nigeria.
Moko Fukuyama is a Japanese artist based in Brooklyn, New York. Fukuyama has received grants, fellowships and commissions from notable art institutions such as Rema Hort Mann Foundation, Foundation For Contemporary Arts, Jerome Foundation, SOHO20, MacDowell, Yaddo, Recess, The Shed, ISCP (International Studio & Curatorial Program) and more. She completed her residency at The Kitchen, New York, New York in spring 2021. During the residency, she created American Recordings, Act I: American Harvest and Act II: American Frequency in collaboration with Yo! Vinyl Richie. She was a 2021 fellow at Franconia Sculpture Park, Shafer, Minnesota and Socrates Sculpture Park, Queens, New York.
Image: Opening reception of Victoria-Idongesit Udondian, How Can I Be Nobody. March 5, 2022. Courtesy of Smack Mellon.