Picturing Black Girlhood: Moments of Possibility (Group Exhibition)
Exhibition Dates: February 17- July 2, 2022
Venue(s) Paul Robeson Galleries (PRG), Rutgers University – Newark (RU-N)
Express Newark (EN), Rutgers University – Newark (RU-N)
Two images from The Black Doll series by Qiana Mestrich will be on view in the group show, Picturing Black Girlhood: Moments of Possibility. Opening on February 17th, this exhibition will coincide with the start of Black Portraiture[s]: Play and Performance, the seventh annual Black Portraiture[s] Conference.
Picturing Black Girlhood: Moments of Possibility is an exhibition that focuses on the concept of Black girlhood in over 150 works by 70 Black women, girls, and genderqueer photographers and filmmakers who range in age from 8 to 94 years old.
Bringing pioneering Black photographers such as Carrie Mae Weems, Doris Derby, Lorraine O’Grady, Deborah Roberts, LaToya Ruby Frazier, Lola Flash, Tawny Champion, Sophia Nahli Allison, and others in conversation with over 30 Black girl photographers, Picturing Black Girlhood is curated by Scheherazade Tillet and Zoraida Lopez-Diago and is supported by the Express Newark curatorial team of Alliyah Allen and Anonda Bell.
First appearing at Columbia University in 2016, “Picturing Black Girlhood” explores the meaning of race, gender, sexuality, and the complex ways that Black cis, queer, and gender-expansive girls, function as creatives, intellectuals, activists, caregivers, and children within our communities and American life.
RAY Triennial 2021 - IDEOLOGIES
3 June – 12 September 2021
Fotografie Forum Frankfurt
Braubachstraße 30–32, 60311 Frankfurt am Main
@rayfotografieprojekte and @fff.gram
The effect of ideologies on the identity of individuals and entire societies is explored by Akinbode Akinbiyi, Johanna Diehl and Qiana Mestrich in the exhibition at the Fotografie Forum Frankfurt, curated by Celina Lunsford.
ORDER: The RAY 2021 IDEOLOGIES catalog published by Kehrer Verlag.
WATCH: Virtual Artist Talk with Celina Lunsford and Qiana Mestrich (YouTube)
VIEW: RAY Triennial 2021 exhibition installation images (below) of my series THRALL (2017-2020) and Namesake (2013). Photo Credit: Esra Klein
Photography Workshop with Justine Kurland (Winter 2021)
This winter 2021, I will be co-teaching the Practices, Strategies and Techniques photography workshop with Justine Kurland.
This eight-week online workshop combines a trio of necessary skills with which to build a photographic practice: critical theory, art histories, and technique. Through a series of assignments and lectures, students will consider the overarching concepts that inform their work.
In the spirit of experimentation and play, drawing from research and everyday experience, students will test their theories in practice. Our time will be divided between group critiques and lectures. Students are expected to make images weekly towards the goal of producing a cohesive and original body of photographs and developing a generative practice based on a process of making, thinking, and remaking.
Necessary equipment and programs not provided: computer, hard drive, camera, and Adobe Creative Cloud Suite.
Wednesday 7:00 pm-8:00 pm, EST
Sunday 12:00 pm-3:00 pm, EST
Winter session: January 20–March 14, 2021
Open to all ages and levels; space is limited to 12 students, register now.
SOLD OUT
Tasweer Photo Festival Qatar 2021
WEDNESDAY, 19 MAY, 2021
7PM DOHA/12PM EST
Join Tasweer’s Artistic Director, Charlotte Cotton, in conversation with artist, writer and cultural interlocutor Qiana Mestrich, focusing on Qiana’s creative journey through to her latest photographic series - THRALL. Qiana will also talk about her impetus for founding Dodge & Burn: Decolonizing Photography History in 2007, which began as a blog and also functions as a monthly critique group online.
REGISTER
Artist Mother Podcast Episode 77: A conversation with Qiana Mestrich
Listen to the AM podcast with host Kaylan Buteyn where I discuss photography, racial identity in America, and building the communities you need to see in your world.
Also check out the juried, virtual exhibition I curated for the Artist Mother community, “You are not wonderful just because you are a Mother.”
