The artistic practice of the Panamanian-Dutch artist Antonio José Guzmán is a biography written on fabric with images of his genetic tests. While revealing the artist’s African ancestry, these marks on cloth intimate the collective stories and wisdom that African tribespeople forced into slavery have passed on to those who carry their blood. The genetic sequences appear in indigo blue on fabric, which is dyed in India using traditional techniques, and refer to the cultivation of indigo plants in the Caribbean, which came from Asia and Africa along with the slaves during the colonial period. Guzmán collaborates with artists, artisans, and like-minded people to produce his work; this time he collaborates with Iva Jankovic.
18th Street Arts Center is pleased to present the exhibition Weaving Unity featuring the work of Bárbara Santos, Claudia Concha, Ni’Ja Whitson, Enid Baxter Ryce, and Antonio José Guzmán + Iva Jankovic, on view in the Slipstream Galleries at 18th Street Arts Center’s Airport Campus (3026 Airport Ave. in Santa Monica) from November 8, 2021 – February 5, 2022. Weaving Unity highlights the knowledge of our human and non-human ancestors in contemporary visual artworks from around the world. The selected projects in this exhibition seek to draw connections between Indigenous knowledge and contemporary Western cultures in which the wisdom of historically marginalized voices have the potential to lead humanity forwards. The exhibition is an invitation to visualize artists as threads that weave new patterns that lead to the emergence of new realities.
18th Street Arts Center hosts programming and exhibitions in two campuses in Santa Monica, one at 18th Street and the other at the Santa Monica Airport.
18th Street Arts Center recognizes and acknowledges the first people of the ancestral territory on which its two sites have been built. With respect to their elders, past and present, and future generations, we recognize the Gabrieleño Tongva – who are still here – and honor, with gratitude, the land itself and those who have stewarded it throughout the generations.
18th Street Arts Center - Airport Campus
Santa Monica, California