The following was copied from the original (PDF) press release provided by the Mattress Factory Museum:
Mattress Factory Announces “Civil Rights and Civil Wrongs” Exhibition Featuring Artists from Pittsburgh and South Africa
PITTSBURGH, PA (February 5, 2018) – Seven artists have been chosen to create new work in Civil Rights and Civil Wrongs: South Africa and US, an exhibition opening at the Mattress Factory on May 25, 2018. Dr. Tavia La Follette is returning to collaborate with the museum on this exhibition, the latest in a series that brings American artists and artists from countries facing human rights crises together in a virtual – and actual – dialogue. Previous projects involved artists from Egypt in 2011, and from Israel and Palestine in 2013.
In Civil Rights and Civil Wrongs, four artists from South Africa work with three artists from Pittsburgh. Each artist confronts racial politics using different mediums, explains La Follette: “We have a sound artist who archives the world around him, a filmmaker who addresses gentrification, and a multimedia artist who brings together myth and futurism. We have a choreographer who considers himself a community developer, an outsider architect who engineers castles from forgotten debris, a painter and printmaker who captures uprisings in mining towns, and a formerly incarcerated drug dealer turned art teacher who is a role model to the children around him.”
The Mattress Factory welcomes four artists from South Africa.
Three Pittsburgh-based artists will show new work in the exhibition, which runs through July
29, 2018.
An opening reception will be held Friday, May 25 from 6 – 8pm at the museum’s 1414 Monterey Street gallery.
Admission for the event is free for all ages.
In Civil Rights and Civil Wrongs, four artists from South Africa work with three artists from Pittsburgh. Each artist confronts racial politics using different mediums, explains La Follette: “We have a sound artist who archives the world around him, a filmmaker who addresses gentrification, and a multimedia artist who brings together myth and futurism. We have a choreographer who considers himself a community developer, an outsider architect who engineers castles from forgotten debris, a painter and printmaker who captures uprisings in mining towns, and a formerly incarcerated drug dealer turned art teacher who is a role model to the children around him.”
The Mattress Factory welcomes four artists from South Africa.
- Henry Albertus recycles rubbish from junkyards to create many-leveled sculptural castles echoing architecture from all over the world in Capricorn Township, a shantytown in the Cape Town region.
- Asanda Kupa’s works in painting and printmaking speak directly to South Africa’s dramatic socio-economic inequalities, troubled political landscape and the atrocities of the mining industry.
- Charlie Jansen is trained as a Community Art Facilitator and muralist and works at the Butterfly Project in Cape Town, serving low income families from pre-school to adulthood.
- Mbovu Malinga is a performing artist, specializing in theater and dance, as well as a community activist who works with children in Cape Town and the surrounding rural areas.
Three Pittsburgh-based artists will show new work in the exhibition, which runs through July
29, 2018.
- Alisha Wormsley uses photography, video, and sculpture to examine collective memories, the synchronicity of time, and racial identity and history.
- Chris Ivey is a documentary filmmaker whose work challenges audiences to think more broadly and inclusively on issues like race, class, and gentrification.
- Ricardo Iamuuri Robinson is a composer, field recordist, and audio-visual artist, whose work explores the relationship between sound, image, object, and place.
An opening reception will be held Friday, May 25 from 6 – 8pm at the museum’s 1414 Monterey Street gallery.
Admission for the event is free for all ages.
500 Sampsonia Way • Pittsburgh, PA 15212 • T: 412.231.3169 • mattress.org
Generous support for Civil Rights and Civil Wrongs:
South Africa and US is provided by Advancing Black Arts in Pittsburgh, Allegheny Regional Asset District, an Anonymous Donor, the Benter Foundation, The Heinz Endowments, The Heinz Small Arts Initiative, National Endowment for the Arts, Opportunity Fund, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, The Pittsburgh Foundation, the Roy A. Hunt Foundation, and the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.
With special thanks to the Mattress Factory Board of Directors and museum members.
South Africa and US is provided by Advancing Black Arts in Pittsburgh, Allegheny Regional Asset District, an Anonymous Donor, the Benter Foundation, The Heinz Endowments, The Heinz Small Arts Initiative, National Endowment for the Arts, Opportunity Fund, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, The Pittsburgh Foundation, the Roy A. Hunt Foundation, and the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.
With special thanks to the Mattress Factory Board of Directors and museum members.
About the Mattress Factory: Hailed as the best museum for installation art in the United States, the Mattress Factory invites visitors to experience “art you can get into.” Over the past 40 years, the Mattress Factory has presented and commissioned new installation and performance works by over 750 artists, both established and emerging, who have challenged themselves and their audiences through the support of the museum’s exceptional residency program. The Mattress Factory’s outreach programs serve more than 20,000 students, teachers, adults, and families annually, and its activities as a visitor attraction, educator and employer continue to invigorate Pittsburgh’s North Side. For more information, call 412.231.3169 or visit mattress.org.
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