Live Performances: The Ancestor and The Archive
with Wura-Natasha Ogunji and guests.
Thursday, January 20, 7 - 9pm

An evening of performances, discussion to follow.  Artists Wura-Natasha Ogunji, Annelize Machado, Amanda Johnston, Omi Osun Joni L. Jones, kt shorb, Matt Richardson and Nicole Vlado each perform a short work and then engage in discussion which addresses how they connect to ancestors, history, memory, the archive (history, personal, the body) and each other.

This exhibit will feature paintings and videos based on performances by the artist.  Ogunji uses physical actions of the body to explore her connections to place, land, history and memory.  Ogunji's most recent video works portray the journey of a Nigerian Ife head artifact who longs for her descendents in the Americas.  Ogunji paints her face to suggest the striations of this artifact and then makes the difficult attempt to fly across the land in search of history and a future.  Her stop-motion animation techniques give the viewer a sense of strained movement and flight.  Ogunji's large-scale paintings speak of a similar journey between physical and spiritual planes as white charcoal and graphite masks hover over painted figures moving through sea and sky.

http://www.womenandtheirwork.org/upcoming_exhibitions.html?itemid=633

Free and public at Women & Their Work Gallery
1710 Lavaca, Austin, TX 78701
Hours: Mon. - Fri. 10 - 6 & Sat. 12 - 5
http://womenandtheirwork.org  512-477-1064