Grant Opportunity: Urban Artists Initiative

Got this valuable info from the En Foco newsleter...

The Bronx Council on the Arts and the Urban Artist Initiative/ NewYork City (UAI/NYC) announce the second application cycle of a new grants program for NYC individual artists of color.

With major support provided by the JPMorgan Chase Foundation, this initiative marks the second year of a cross-discipline grant program developed specially for artists who self-identify their heritage as African, Latino, Asian, or Native American, embracing as well the diversity that exists within communities of color. Fellowships of $2,000 each will be available to individual artists for their artistic and professional development.

Deadline: September 26, 2007

The online application is available at http://uai.cuerate.org. Visit the press release for additional details, and information on application seminars.

ICP Exhibit - Let Your Motto Be Resistance: African American Portraits

May 11 through September 9, 2007

"...explores the history of African American achievement from the mid-nineteenth century to the present through the changing roles of photographic portraiture."

Check out the ICP website for details.

PHOTO: Arnold Eagle
Gordon Parks, 1945
© Estate of Arnold Eagle
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution

Mr. Man in Full View

Photography by Black American Photographer LOLA FLASH

Through portraits in her work titled "[sur]passing", Lola Flash (love the name!) explores how Black folks around the (modern) world experience what the brilliant W.E.B. DuBois coined as "the color line."

Lola poses her subjects in front of the gritty, metropolitan backdrop of London, New York and South Africa. It's amazing how each photograph delivers visual cues about the person's social identity, style, personality, history and even a bit of their life experience. She's able to get a raw expression from each of them - this is the true aim of portraiture.

Excerpt from Lola Flash's artist statement:

"[sur]passing is based on a series of larger-than-life color portraits that probe the impact skin pigmentation plays on black identity and consciousness. Primarily due to the melanin count of their skin, light and dark-skinned blacks’ opportunities can differ enormously ranging from overt favoritism to extreme alienation."

See her EnFoco artist page and her personal website to view more photos.

Lola Flash was also chosen to be in the first Silverstein Photography Annual from September 8 - October 13, 2007.

Photo: Karisse © Lola Flash