Solo Exhibit: Delphine Fawundu-Buford
Curated by: Shantrelle P. Lewis
Opening Reception: June 16th 4-7PM | On View Until July 16th
In A Time of Change, a solo exhibition featuring the photography of New York based artist Delphine Fawundu-Buford, is a profound reflection of the conditions faced by Black and Latino youth in American society during the Age of Obama.
Although America has experienced the administration of its first Black president – a Black man, Black and Latino boys continue to be in crisis. American education has a deep-rooted marriage to the Prison Industrial Complex and today, Black and Latino boys are arrested and incarcerated at higher rates than any other demographic in the U.S. There are more young men in prison cells than there are matriculating through high school and college campuses.
In the series In A Time of Change, Delphine situates her subjects, a Black pre-teen and a Latino teen, in environments that oftentimes represent a direct affront to their very existence. Each of the young men, however, confront both their surroundings and circumstances, equipped with various texts that have the power to chart their trajectory in a direction opposite of the one society has already ascribed to them.
Highlighting texts from David Walker’s Appeal and Jacob Carruthers’ Intellectual Warfare to Don Miguel Ruiz’s Four Agreements, each perplexing, large-scale image leaves the viewer contemplating the destiny of the Fawundu-Buford’s subjects and their peers. One wonders whether or not through vigilant education, can change indeed come.
The Opening Reception will include drumming and spoken word by young men involved in rites of passage programs based in New York City and the City of Philadelphia.
For this project, MoCADA has partnered with StoryCorps in order to document the stories of those who feel passionately about the nature of the exhibitions.
