Panel Discussion: First Person Voice
First Person Voice will explore the importance of Black artists creating and controlling their own artistic images in mainstream media in a conversation between arts entrepreneur and curator James E. Bartlett, writer and activist Emil Wilbekin, filmmaker Terence Nance, and designer and filmmaker Walé Oyéjidé, Esq.
This virtual talk will examine the growth, visibility, and importance of a new generation of artists creating works that explicitly reflect their own lived experiences, and that of their communities. It will reference artists both contemporary and modern, as well as works currently on view at the HRM, in Derrick Adams: Buoyant, which was co-curated by James E. Bartlett.
This live, pay-what-you-wish event will take place on Zoom. All donations and ticket purchases are greatly appreciated. Your support provides essential funds to enable the HRM to support our staff, artists, and quality programming.
Emil Wilbekin, Founder of Native Son, a platform created to inspire and empower Black Gay Men, has had a long and impactful career in journalism and creative media, including digital, print, social, video, and live events. He has brought his expertise in editorial creation, content curation, and multimedia story telling to publications like Afropunk, ESSENCE, Giant, and Vibe Magazine, which under Wilbekin’s leadership won the National Magazine Award for General Excellence in 2002. He has appeared on-air discussing pop culture, fashion/style, entertainment, and current affairs on The Today Show, NBC Channel 4 News New York, E! VH-1, MTV, BET, CNN, The Insider, Arise 360, Revolt, and PBS. He currently resides in NYC, where is deeply involved in community service and mentorship, and has been honored by organizations such as Harlem’s Fashion Row, GLAAD, Hetrick-Martin Institute, HRC (The Human Rights Campaign), Stonewall Community Foundation, The Anti Violence Project, and the Black Alumni of Pratt.
Terence Nance, originally from Dallas, Texas, is a filmmaker, writer, director, actor, and musician. He is best known for his directorial debut “An Oversimplification of Her Beauty,” an experimental film in which he also starred, that premiered in the Sundance Film Festival in 2012, and was featured in the New School’s Afrofuturist Film festival in 2015; and as the creator of the avant-garde TV “program” on HBO, “Random Acts of Flyness,” produced by MVMT, his production company. This late-night, Peabody Award—winning series “explores evergreen cultural idioms such as patriarchy, white supremacy and sensuality from a new, thought-provoking perspective.”
Walé Oyéjidé is a designer, musician, lawyer, writer, filmmaker, TED Fellow, and National Geographic Explorer who was born in Nigeria and moved to the US as a teenager. As a musician, he released four albums, that include “one day everything changed” (2004), “Broken Jazz 101” (2004), and “Africahot! The Afrofuture Sessions” (2006). Following his musical career, he practiced law for a number of years, and then moved into the fashion world, where, in 2014, he founded the company Ikire Jones, of which he is Creative Director. His design work has been featured in exhibits and museums worldwide, including the Vitra Design Museum in Germany, the Guggenheim Bilbao, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, High Museum of Art in Atlanta, Philadelphia Museum of Art, and others. Oyéjidé has described his line as “a vehicle to celebrate the perspectives of marginalized populations,” and Ikire Jones apparel design can be seen in the Marvel Studios film “Black Panther.”
Support provided by Art Bridges.
