Some of the artists return to Guyana often and some rarely . Others examine what survives and what is mourned .
Outside of a handful of an established few , the cadre of contemporary artists of Guyanese heritage remains relatively under the radar . For women , this is even more acute . Consequently , an important agenda underlining Un | Fixed Homeland was to feature an equal representation of work by women . Six of the thirteen artists in the exhibition are women at various stages in their artistic practice . For Khadija Benn , one of the few women photographers living and working in Guyana , Un | Fixed Homeland is her first exhibition . In tandem with Aljira ’ s mission as a contemporary art center that aims to provide a platform for emerging and under-represented artists , Benn ’ s stunning digital photographic landscape work , Amalivaca ( 2012 ) was chosen as the lead image for the exhibition and for its publicity materials . This selection , to feature a young woman who is also an artist exhibiting for the first time , speaks to the show ’ s priorities of inclusivity and representation . It has also marked an important shift in Benn ’ s professional practice .
Unfortunately , what the global public often sees of the visual culture of Guyana still centers on the exotic , tropical , colonial , and touristic . The artists in Un | Fixed Homeland are part of a contemporary movement to counter this historic malpractice by challenging , disrupting , manipulating , and even exploiting the ‘ picturing paradise ’ motif often associated with the region . Reinforced throughout the work presented in Un | Fixed Homeland and via the artists ’ personal narratives fueling their art-making is a framing of the Guyanese experience of migration and homeland as symbolic of larger pressing universal concerns capturing daily headlines and weighing on our hearts and minds .
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The history of increased migration from Guyana to North America and Europe is due to unstable economic conditions , which continue to prevail — 43 % of the population in Guyana currently lives below the poverty line . Source : Manuel Orozco , “ Remitting Back Home and Supporting the Homeland : The Guyanese Community in the U . S .,” Inter-American Dialogue Working Paper commissioned by the U . S . Agency for International Development GEO Project , January 15 , 2003 . http :// www . w . thedialogue . org / PublicationFiles / Remitting back home and supporting the homeland . pdf
GRACE ANEIZA ALI is an independent curator , faculty member in the Department of Art & Public Policy , Tisch School of the Arts , New York University and Founder / Editorial Director of OF NOTE — an award-winning online magazine on art and activism . Her essays on photography have been published in Harvard ’ s Transition Magazine , Nueva Luz Journal , Small Axe Journal , among others . In 2014 , she received an Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts Curatorial Fellowship . Highlights of her curatorial work include Guest Curator for the 2014 Addis Ababa Foto Fest ; Guest Curator of the Fall 2013 Nueva Luz Photographic Journal ; and Host of the Visually Speaking photojournalism public program at the New York Public Library ’ s Schomburg Center . Ali is a World Economic Forum ‘ Global Shaper ’ and Fulbright Scholar . She holds an M . A . in Africana Studies from New York University and a B . A . in English Literature from the University of Maryland , College Park . Ali was born in Guyana and lives in New York City .