| Details | Join us for an artist talk and discussion with Foundland Collective about the importance of alternative storytelling and “counter-archives” in an increasingly complex and media-saturated world. Formed in 2009 by South African artist Lauren Alexander and Syrian artist Ghalia Elsrakbi, Foundland Collective has been based between Amsterdam and Cairo since 2014. The duo explores underrepresented political and historical narratives by working with archival images, documents, and sound recordings and transforming them through design, writing, video, and storytelling. Throughout Foundland’s development, its founders have reflected upon what it means to produce politically engaged work as non-Western artists. They received a Smithsonian Artist Research Fellowship in 2015. In this talk, the artists will discuss their practice and share insights about their current projects in conversation with Carol Huh, the museum’s curator of contemporary art. This program is offered as part of The Studio, the Freer and Sackler’s virtual contemporary art space.
Ghalia Elsrakbi (b. 1978, Damascus, Syria) is based in Cairo, Egypt, where she teaches at the American University. She completed a master’s in design at the Sandberg Instituut in Amsterdam and a post-graduate research degree at Jan van Eyck Academie in Maastricht.
Lauren Alexander (b. 1983, Cape Town, South Africa) lives and works in Amsterdam. After completing a master’s in design at the Sandberg Instituut in Amsterdam, she pursued an MFA at the Dutch Art Institute in Arnhem in 2011. She tutors at the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague, as well as at the University of the Underground at the Sandberg Instituut.
Carol Huh is curator of contemporary art at the Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art. Huh focuses on current artistic production related to Asia through exhibitions, acquisitions, and public programs. Register for the event here: https://smithsonian.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_40TiHJQ2Sn2LcV_WPS4C_A |
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