Prelude……Venus Lives!
Afi Venessa Appiah, Kariyana Calloway-Scott, Praise Etiosa Godswill
118 W Hastings Street: Kariyana Calloway-Scott
130 W Hastings Street: Praise Etiosa Godswill
320 Carrall Street: Afi Venessa Appiah
428 Carrall Street (in alley): Kariyana Calloway-Scott
On view starting February 10, 2025
Prelude……Venus Lives! is a public art project that serves as a precursor to the upcoming exhibition and symposium, Emblematic Elusions: Facets of the Black Venus, set to take place at Gallery Gachet’s physical space in the fall of 2025.
Like its sister exhibition, Prelude……Venus Lives! foregrounds themes of Black female and queer sexuality, eroticism, and identity through interventions and remediations of the historical archetype of the Black Venus.
Using diverse artistic methods—including critical explorations of African cinema, investigations into the assemblage of Afro-Diasporic cultural identity and heritage in the southern United States, and surrealist meditations on Afro-futuristic and historical visual languages—artists Afi Venessa Appiah, Kariyana Calloway-Scott, and Praise Etiosa Godswill visualize the registers of Black feminist subjectivity and explore the uses of the erotic as a visual language and an emancipatory praxis.
Prelude.....Venus Lives! is supported by the Hastings Crossings Business Association and presented in partnership with Artspeak Gallery.
Olumoroti George
Director/Curator
Afi Venessa Appiah: I am a 29 year-old theorist who can remember being a 10-year old writer and who expects to someday be an 80-year old writer. I’m also comfortably reclusive – a hermit butterfly in the middle of New York – a latent sojourner, a reluctant cynic when I’m not careful, a questioning feminist, a Black African; an oil-and-water combination of zeal, lull, insecurity, certainty, and intensity.
Kariyana Calloway-Scott is a transmedia artist from Decatur, Georgia, whose work spans collage, film, sculpture and performance. Her art explores themes of Black southern life, intimacy, Femmehood, and interiority, drawing from her academic training in Black studies, Women, Gender, and Sexuality studies, and fine art. Kariyana’s practice is deeply rooted in the traditions of trickery, signifying, and dissemblance, offering a nuanced examination of the sociopolitical performances of Black femmes. Through her innovative approach, she creates space for critical engagement and cultural understanding, using her work to challenge, provoke, and illuminate the intricacies of identity and representation.
Praise Godswill (b. 1997, Atlanta, GA) is a Nigerian-American artist based in Columbus, Ohio. His work explores the boundaries of "Black" expression through generative technologies and new media, crafting surreal, otherworldly visuals that challenge conventional narratives. By blending digital abstraction with speculative forms, Praise seeks to create dialogue and meaning beyond traditional syntax. Guided by the ethos of "less thought – more feeling," his practice reimagines identity and culture in an evolving technological landscape.
