Nic Brierre Aziz, artist and Community Engagement Curator for the New Orleans Museum of Art and manager of the Haitian Cultural Legacy Collection will be in conversation with Joëlle Ferly, artist and Founder of L’Artocarpe, an international artist-driven space in Guadeloupe. Aziz and Ferly will discuss shared concerns and intersecting ideas in their community-centered and artist-driven practices. Additionally, in their roles as leaders of art initiatives invested in the French Caribbean and its Diaspora, particularly Haiti and Guadeloupe, Aziz and Ferly will also expand on their work to move beyond the traditional white cube to create thriving alternative spaces and ways of curating. The conversation will be moderated by Grace Aneiza Ali, CCCADI’s Curator-at-Large and Assistant Professor, Art & Public Policy, NYU.
Nic Aziz
Nic Brierre Aziz is an American-Haitian interdisciplinary artist and curator born and raised in New Orleans, LA. His current practice is deeply community focused and rooted around the utilization of personal and collective histories to reimagine the future. He has worked extensively leading community engaged projects throughout New Orleans with entities such as the Office of Mayor Mitch Landrieu, Antenna, The Joan Mitchell Center, the Arts Council of New Orleans and Prospect. In addition to his personal artmaking practice, he currently serves as the Community Engagement Curator for the New Orleans Museum of Art. He is also the manager of the Haitian Cultural Legacy Collection, a collection of over 400 artworks started by his maternal grandfather in 1944. He has contributed to publications such as HuffPost, Burnaway and Terremoto Magazine and his work has been featured by The Oxford American, The Associated Press and The Alternative UK. He is also the recipient of several artist residencies and fellowships and most recently was selected as a 2020 Andy Warhol Foundation Curatorial Fellow. He obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree from Morehouse College and a Master of Science degree from The University of Manchester (UK).
Joëlle Ferly
Joëlle Ferly is a Guadeloupean-born artist and Founder of L’Artocarpe, an international artist-driven space in Guadeloupe run by and for artists. Ferly’s art practice spans photography, art video, performance, writing and storytelling. Previous art projects have included a 24 hour-performance (Haiti) and a year-long sound trip across Guadeloupe. Today, with over 75 members from Guadeloupe, Martinique, and its Diaspora and over 80 residencies and conferences, L’Artocarpe has become a leading space to reflect upon and rethink art practices, both creatively and theoretically. Recently, Ferly established A. CURE (Alternative curating), which seeks to acknowledge immaterial, non-merchant, collective, performative as well as in-situ art practices as part of the heritage of Afro-descendant art producers.