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A Postcard from Re: purpose

A MoCADA satellite exhibition at FiveMyles

Re: purpose is a Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts, MoCADA, satellite exhibition at FiveMyles featuring the work of Pamela Council, Sara Jimenez, Sondra Perry and Patrice Renee Washington, four New York-based women artists who transform common domestic and cosmetic objects in order to expand the possibilities of self-representation.

These artists redefine an object’s form and function to reveal its hidden histories and explore how our identities inform our perception.
 

In partnership with the artist-driven initiative Dancing While Black and Urban Bush Women's Being Bushified series, movement-based artists Rashida Bumbray, Ebony Noelle Golden, Paloma McGregor, Sydnie Mosley, and Gesiye Souza-Okpofabri will perform solos in response to pieces in Re: purpose.

Dancing While Black + Re: purpose premieres on May 3rd, 2014 at 5PM at FiveMyles in Crown Heights.

Sydnie Mosley is one of the dance artists who will be featured in Dancing While Black + Re: purpose. We documented Sydnie’s process as she developed her solo, which is inspired by Pamela Council’s Flo Jo World Record Nails.
 

Photo credit: Autumn Scoggan
 

Flo Jo World Record Nails pays homage to the late Olympic track star Florence Griffith Joyner, her pursuit of perfection, and her fearless embodiment of personal style. Pamela Council constructed a model racetrack from 2,000 hand-painted reproductions of Griffith Joyner’s infamously long acrylic nails which she wore both on and off the track. Since much of Sydnie Mosley’s work explores issues around self-representation, we thought she would be the perfect fit to respond to Council’s sculpture.
 

Pamela Council's model racetrack created from 2,000 hand-painted reproductions of Griffith Joyner’s infamously long acrylic nails.
Photo credit: Autumn Scoggan