NONNY'S LIST
I have to say, I am so happy to have my work recognized on the mother land! The project was just featured today on the amazing Nigerian fashion/photography blog NONNY'S LIST. Thanks so much for the recognition, it means everything to me! Please keep spreading the word guys! We will make the reImagining kickstarter campaign a success!
We are getting the word out there! A huge thanks to forcoloredgurls.com for an amazing feature on the blog! Jamie Fleming-Dixon is an inspiring voice in the community and her support for this project is whole heartedly appreciated. Make sure to bookmark the blog! Please continue to support the reImagining kickstarter campaign and help us spread the word!
What's her story? Support the reImagining kickstarter campaign today!
Support two great causes at the same fun filled event! My work will be featured along with the work of a great set of artists at the National Black MBA Association Black History fundraiser. Come show your support for the reImagining (clapping really loudly during my presentation) and support an organization that is shaping the future business leaders of our community. And the cherry on top - the event is being run by one of the reImagining 100 - Majella Mark! Come out and show your support! See you there!
A fine art photographer focuses her lens on an overlooked minority with the help of crowd sourcing.
New York, NY Feb. 1, 2012- Ijeoma D. Iheanacho is a fine art photographer focused on telling the stories that are constantly overlooked, the stories that are brushed under the rug or politely stepped over. Her latest project, the reImagining, is a large scale photography installation focused on allowing 100 “ordinary” women of African descent to express the identities they choose to present to the world. She is reaching out to that world to help her fund the project.
With the current economic conditions making securing fine art funding nearly impossible for the unconnected, she is turning to kickstarter.com to ask all the “ordinary” people of the world to help her realize the project. She is trying to raise the funds to allow her to create the 300 gallery quality portraits of the women, and she is giving her potential kickstarter backers only 60 days to make it happen. The campaign launched February 1st and will run until March 31st. If the funding goal is not reached by then, all pledges are returned and the project goes unfunded.
But why the reImagining and why kickstarter.com? “The only thing worse than being misrepresented in your culture, is to be disappeared from it. Now imagine having to vacillate between the two. This is what most Black women have to live with every day. This project was borne out of the frustration of not seeing myself, and all the other women of African descent in my life, accurately depicted in mainstream media. I have been creating art for over a decade in the art mecca of the world, so I decided to pick up my camera and do something about it. Then 2011 happened. The global coming together. People deciding that if they stand together, they can amplify their voices - literally! To me kickstarter is not just funding, but also community building.”
The reImagining is a project focused on community building. Creating a gallery exhibition is just the first step in Iheanacho’s plans for the project. After debuting the project in New York City, she plans to create a traveling exhibition that will allow her to partner with non-profit organizations to bring the arts to underrepresented communities. Upon completion of the tour, an exhibition catalogue will be created to allow a wider array of people to experience the work as well as be used in a wide variety of educational settings. Finally, she will launch a dedicated website that creates a forum to allow a wider array of people to interact with the project and build communities that bring real solutions to the issues raised in the project. Iheanacho plans to even use the production of this project as a teaching moment. During the photography sessions she will arrange studio visits with organizations that work with young at risk girls to begin teaching them the important lessons of self-esteem and self-determination.
But to create the project she still needs the help crowd funding can provide. “I am raising funds to cover the costs of studio rental, preproduction, lighting, hair and make up, props and wardrobe, and postproduction. All on a very large scale. Each woman will be have portraits made of the progression of her reclamation of her personal identity. The first portrait will represent the stereotype she feels is placed on her, the next will show the person she feels she really is, and the final will show the person she wishes to present to the world. So doing that math - that is 100 women, photographed three times, for a total of 300 gallery quality portraits. That is where I need the help of the kickstarter backers.” Iheanacho has decided to thank her kickstarter backers with rewards including producing a limited edition set of prints that will never be reproduced again.
To learn more and to donate to the project, readers can visit the official kickstarter campaign at: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2065012881/the-reimagining-photographing-the-unheard.
About Ijeoma D. Iheanacho:
Ijeoma D. Iheanacho is a fine art photographer that uses her training as an architect to create photographic installations that are designed to arrest the body while the eye is focused on the photography, thus intensifying the viewing experience. She has been exhibited nationally and throughout New York City. Her images have been used in the independent film Afropunk, as well as in a four part photo series for the Afropunk.com website. Her early series, Cloth, has been collected by the Photographs and Prints Collection of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture and selected for exhibition as a finalist for the CurateNYC 2011 exhibition at Rush Art Gallery.
WE ARE ALMOST THERE! FEBRUARY 1ST CAN NOT COME SOON ENOUGH!
Well guys, I am back with more previews! This time I am previewing the rewards for all you future kickstarter backers! Check out the list below, get your fingers ready to become a backer, and get some swag for yourself!
Okay guys! Well the count down begins - with a sneak preview! I had the best time this weekend creating the reImagining kickstarter campaign images. The entire photo shoot was such a pleasure. Big laughs and great energy! I have to give a huge thanks to the super patient model - Majella Mark! She was freezing in my 111 year old house and never complained! And guys - the make up, oh the make up! This amazing make up job was brought to you by the make up extraordinaire Risha Rox! If - oh excuse me - WHEN the kickstarter campaign in successful, you will be seeing much more of her work. I have to give so much love to Aulister Mark, he is going to have to work miracles with the campaign video. I am sticking to my side of the camera - where I am not stiff as a board! And the man in the room - Anthony Levi! Keeping it pack baby! Thanks so much for bringing that eye for detail and your calming spirit! Well, below is a preview of the images for the campaign. The first is the official kickstarter web page image formatted for their site and the second is the one I will be using for everything else. This is just the beginning.......
I had the pleasure of attending the opening for the finalist for CurateNYC 2011 last week! I am so honored to have been chosen! It's a great way to end the year! For more information on the exhibition: click here! For my winning entry: click here! It's a great and diverse exhibition - make the time to go see it!
idi
The Brown in the City Blog entry - Women of Color at Occupy Wall Street - has been featured on the award winning podcast Citizen Radio! Always a home for those unheard, Citizen Radio played the audio interviews of Women of Color at Occupy Wall Street during the November 3rd, 2011 podcast. To hear the audio click here! The coverage begins at 23:47 and ends at 40:23. Thanks so much to Citizen Radio for giving these interviews exposure. They are member supported, so if you like what you here, don't be shy - donate!
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Last we spoke, I asked if women of color were down at Occupy Wall Street. I railed about our need for representation. I put out the information that would get us out there. Then I calmed down and remembered - I have a camera, a cell phone with a voice recorder, and website. The Brown in the City Blog was taking to the street. I wanted to prove that we had something to say and the right to be heard. Without further rambling from me - the women of color I met at Occupy Wall Street.
Click here to hear Elyce Jacome
Click here to hear Akua Gyamerah
Click here to hear Kamyon Conner
Click here to hear Jaqulyne Coleman
Click here to hear Liliveth Castanedo
Click here to hear Tara Gonsalves
Click here to hear Cassie Hinnen
My heart swells when I look over the crowds at Occupy Wall Street, then it skips a beat when I search for the faces of black women in the milieu of protesters. We are there, we are present, but are we being heard? When the mainstream media finally decided to pick up on the story, all of my favorite black female pundits (Melissa Harris Perry, Karen Finney, Tamron Hall, Keli Goff, Joy-Anne Reid, Karen Hunter, Goldie Taylor) were early supporters of the movement. But, I started to get a bit worried when most of the representatives they put in front of the camera where white men. Then, an auspicious interview the morning of the failed "let's clean up the park/clean out the protesters" attempt by Brookfield and Bloomberg. There stood a young black woman going toe to toe with a city/corporate representative telling the obvious truth that it was a badly veiled attempt to deny citizens their 1st amendment rights. And, she was glorious. Polite, but firm. Back straight, eyes to the camera shining with the light of being on the right side of history. For a moment I felt kinda bad for the city/corporate representative who looked like he just wanted to slink off camera after being out smarted by “a bunch of hippies in their drum circles". I did not catch that young sister's name, I was too busy pumping my fists in the air over the victory of the protestors, but the image of her representing the movement has forever been seared into my mind's eye. Yes, her interview was the only one of the at least 30-40 interviews with OWS representatives that I have seen, that featured a black woman. But, OWS has many voices and many hopes. Interwoven into those voices must be the demands of black women. With the obvious wage inequality for women and minorities, imagine the wage inequality for black women. With the levels of discrimination in the work place, imagine the discrimination black women face everyday at the work place. Imagine how the mothers, the sisters, the aunts, the grandmothers, the wives of the black men must feel when their sons, their brothers, their nephews, their grandsons, and their husbands leave the house for another day of stop and frisk. As the social safety net is continuously threatened, elderly women of color are in the most vulnerable position of falling through the holes with little personal wealth after years of institutionalized racism has left their saving well behind their contemporaries. And of course the demand closest to my heart, correcting the false cultural identities forced on black women. We must be there to add these demands, and many more that affect our daily lives, to the growing chorus coming from Liberty Park. So sisters, I implore you to go out and march at whatever protest is closest to you. Support the protestors in your city with your presence and your voice. Below is more information connected to the movement - add your voice to the chorus and let’s create a new paradigm that will allow a real reImagining of the lives of women of color.
twitter: @occpywallstnyc, @nycsep17, @occupywallst, #occupywallstreet, #occupytogether
facebook: occupywallstreet
“It is axiomatic that if we do not define ourselves for ourselves, we will be defined by others - for their use and to our detriment” - Audre Lorde
“General Announcement: It is not my job to make you comfortable with my presence. I exist. Yes, I am here. You can see me. I do not need to shuck and jive and amuse you to be in The Room. I have more than earned my seat at the table, and yes, I will be adding my voice to the conversation. What conversation, you ask. Well, the National Conversation on Race, of course! When did we start that conversation, you ask? Despite popular media consensus, it did not start January 20th, 2009. It has been going on for the past 400 years. Those people forced on a boat and shipped here, well they were the first to raise their voices. This conversation has been going on for a while, it’s not my fault you have been ignoring it. Does your anger and panic stem from your choosing only to acknowledge it after I have taken my rightful place at The Table? Well, let’s take this moment to welcome you to the conversation. I am very curious to see what you have to offer that is not race baiting or crocodile tears. So, let’s talk……” -first blog entry on the Brown in the City Blog
So how do you talk about race when your voice is not apart of the conversation? How do you fight an identity that was placed on you? That is the essence of the reImagining. The only thing worse than being misrepresented in your culture, is being disappeared from it. Imagine having to vacillate between the two. If you can, you know what it is to be a black woman in America. Not Oprah, not Michelle, not Halle. But the everyday black woman being followed by the store detective. The everyday black woman straining to see herself on basic cable or in the magazines that get front shelf real estate. The everyday black woman wondering where she fits in this society.
The reImagining is a 300 image photographic installation created to allow women of African descent to not only challenge the stereotypes they fight everyday, but to also reclaim their own identities and to weave them into the cultural conversation. The full write up of the project can be found here.
I have been working to bring this project to fruition since January of 2010. I have met 71 of the most inspiring women who are ready to tell the world their stories, and I am itching to tell them. The only roadblock, the Great Recession. Traditional art funding has constricted at the same pace as my personal wallet. After laboring under grant proposals and fundraising letters to no avail, I was introduced by one of these brilliant women (I’m looking at you Noelle) to the idea of a kickstarter campaign. Take the cause to the people. So….here we go! I am in the planning and research stages for a campaign to be held in February and March of 2012. Walk with me as I put this campaign together and get the project funded. Please feel free to give me any advice you think could help me or just send your good energy. Either way I would love to hear from you! I look forward sharing the journey with you!
Peaces!
Ijeoma D. Iheanacho
Living in NYC allows me to experience many things, but this weekend, for exactly one hour of my life, I brushed up against humanity. Yeah it sounds flowery, but being amongst the protestors at Occupy Wall Street reminded me of my core belief in the human narrative. I was able to squeeze a trip in this Sunday between church and meetings and walked away with a camera full of pictures and a heart full of hope:
[gallery]
Oh yeah: CNN finally decided to show up!
I always know when I am starting to slip into the madness again. The voice in my head takes on a British accent. When it speaks to me in Italian I am just mildly perturbed, Spanish - just kinda off. But when that skull crashing union jack takes over, it's time for the looney bin. I know this sounds too rational for confinement, but keep in mind that just a few sentences ago I did say, “voice inside my head”. All my favorite Beat poets spent some time in a padded cell, so I feel no shame in needing a straight jacket or two. But, I wish I could claim it was the byproduct of too much time in the darkroom or staring to far into the lens. To be perfectly honest, it's reality that's driving me crazy. The reality of Amy Goodman whispering to me the secret doings of ALEC on my podcasts in the morning. The reality of wondering if the kids down the street are now counted among the staggering 31 million American children living in poverty. The reality that mother nature is tiring of our abuse and has started fighting back with wilder storms and deeper droughts. The reality of Dick Cheney on a book tour instead of under the basement of the Hauge doing 30 to life. The reality that we are losing a whole generation of American graduates due to our inability to overthrow our corporatism mindset. These little things just keep tickling in the back of my mind no matter how much I serf the People magazine website or rabidly watch TMZ. I can not get that cockney accent from reminding me that as a nation we are tripping down a path of no return. Pushed and prodded from the right by Republican politicians with a burning hatred in their eyes, and continuously let down on the left when we HOPE for the support of our weak willed Democrats. It’s enough to make anyone paying attention wonder if they are the first, or the last, to give into the insanity.
This past Friday the 15th, I had the honor of turning in the Cloth Series to the Photographs and Prints Collection of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. I am so honored to have my work included in such a prestigious collection of works. Since its founding the Schomburg has been one of the premier collections of art representing and celebrating the Black condition nationally and internationally. A special thanks to the curator of the collection, Mary Yearwood, for being such a great resource and hand holder as I went through this process. As budget cuts threaten our great institutions, let's remember and support the institutions that remember and support us. For more information on the Schomburg click here!
Faces of the Great Recession will be closing Saturday, July 9th! It has been such an honor to have this work be apart of the amazing Faces of the Economy exhibition at the Art for Change Gallery. Please come out for the final chance to see this amazing exhibition. The closing and artist talk will be held from 7-11pm at Art for Change. The gallery is located at 1699 Lexington Ave. between 106th and 107th streets. Take the 6 train to 103rd street station. Hope to see you there! Make sure to check out the profile on the Faces of the Economy done by NBC news!
View more videos at: http://www.nbcnewyork.com.
Hey Ma! We're on the news! Faces of the Great Recession was shown in this feature on East Harlem. The current Faces of the Economy show at the Art for Change Gallery was profiled and Faces of the Great Recession was shown as part of the current exhibition. You can scroll to 2:12 to catch the profile of the gallery. Do check out the whole profile, Gabe Pressman is a New York classic!
