Nicole Smythe-Johnson, Camille Chedda & Leasho Johnson are confirmed presenters!

While plans are underway for our double event on Saturday June 23rd at NLS Kingston we have further exciting news. Independent curator and writer Nicole Smythe-Johnson will be discussing various issues to do with building an art career form a curator's perspective such as artist statements and studio visits. Visual artists Camille Chedda and Leasho Johnson have a breadth of experience amongst themselves on areas such as studio practice, further education, residencies and portfolio presentation.

Camille Chedda

(Photo courtesy of www.repeatingislands.com)

Camille Chedda is a Jamaica-based visual artist whose practice currently moves between drawing and installation. Her work moves between scrutiny of local popular culture and post-colonial thought. She was the inaugural recipient of the British Coucil's Trans Atlantic Artist's Residency Exchange (TAARE). Chedda has also completed the Art OMI residency in the USA and she holds an MFA from The University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth. She is also project co-ordinator for The Rubis InPulse Art Project and lecturer at The Edna Manley College of the Visual & Performing Arts.

Nicole Smythe-Johnson

(Photo courtesy of artforum.com)

 Nicole Smythe-Johnson has played quite an important role in her work as an independent curator since deciding to go in that direction after being Senior Curator at The National Gallery of Jamaica in 2014. In the period since then she has been the inaugural recipient of the Tilting Axis Curatorial Fellowship. In her recent project, Neither Night Nor Day, is a presentation of the work of Jamaican intuitive artist, John Dunkley through a different lens. The exhibition was curated by Diana Nawi and Smythe-Johnson acted as Assistant Curator. The project is a collaboration between The Perez Art Museum Miami and The National Gallery of Jamaica. Smythe-Johnson is also the editor of the University of the West Indies-based Caribbean Quarterly journal. She is soon to begin her doctoral studies at The University of Texas, Austin.

Leasho Johnson

(Photo courtesy of suziewongpresents.com)

Leasho Johnson's work has evolved in different ways over the years since he first began his practice in the mid 2000's. He has sought to use the means of graffiti art, as well as re-appropriating found objects towards the goal of challenging very fixed cultural norms and ideas about sexuality and masculinity. He has been a recipient of the Davidoff/ Residency Unlimited studio residency in New York, The Bluecoat Residency in the UK and Caribbean Linked in Aruba. He has also worked as a designer for over ten years and is soon departing to undertake an MFA at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

We hope to see you there for both Life After Art School from 10am to 11:30am and DAK'ART REPORT from 11:30 to 1 pm.