Manhattan discussion to fight Guyana myths – at home and in the diaspora

The journey of Guyana-born Renaissance woman Grace Ali — a self-propelled projectile demolishing myths about her native country and its nationals around the world — continues on April 24 in Manhattan when she moderates a duscussion called “Visually Speaking: A Worldview from Guyana” at the New York Public Library’s Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.

Ali — who founded Of Note magazine and was recently awarded an esteemed curatorial fellowship from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts — will be moderating the talk, which features award-winning photographers Keisha Scarville and Nikki Kahn. The discussion will tackle misrepresentations about Guyana and its diaspora.

Utilizing fine art photography, academic scholarship and journalism, Ali has been on her pro-Guyana mission for years. She received a Fulbright Scholar award to explore her Indian roots in 2003. And recalling her upbringing in Guyana, which included stints without electricity and running water, Ali has also been a consistent advocate for the rights, welfare and literacy of young girls in Guyana, India and Ethiopia.

Grace Ali discusses Guyana photographs for a recent project with filmmaker Thomas Allen Harris.

 

The Warhol fellowship will be used by Ali to create “Guyana Modern,” a major exhibition of contemporary Guyanese photography for the nation’s 50th anniversary of independence in 2016. The big show will be presented at “Aljira, a Center for Contemporary Art” in Newark.

 

Registration is required for the free event. Visit http://bit.ly/worldviewfromguyana to register. For more information about Of Note magazine, visit www.ofnotemagazine.org.