The United Nations Inhabitants Fund (UNFPA) will show a brand new exhibit titled Ibo Touchdown, that includes an unique sequence of larger-than-life charcoal drawings by Jamaican-American artist, Donovan Nelson. The exhibit, with assist from the United Nations Outreach Programme on the Transatlantic Slave Commerce and Slavery, is being staged in observance of the Worldwide Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Commerce (March 25, 2024). The exhibit additionally helps to commemorate the ultimate yr of the Worldwide Decade for Folks of African Descent (2015-2024).
The Ibo, additionally known as Igbo, are one of many largest ethnic teams in West Africa. In 1803, a bunch of captives from this area dedicated one among historical past’s most storied and tragic acts of resistance in defiance of enslavement. As a part of a lethal revolt, they selected to belief the spirit of the water over a life in captivity. These masterful works by Donovan Nelson seize each the sorrow and triumph of this historic encounter that came about at Dunbar Creek, within the state of Georgia.
Amid his many tasks as a commissioned and exhibiting portrait artist, educator, husband and father, Nelson has remained dedicated to telling this story via his artwork, finishing 50 meticulous works in complete with extra proposed. “I’m pushed by epic reminiscence and a deepened sense of obligation to make use of my reward as an artist to focus on this historic occasion that pays respect to the ancestors whose shoulders we stand on,” shared the artist about this sequence, which has unfolded over a number of years.
Nelson’s Ibo sequence emanated at The Valentine Museum of Artwork and progressed with assist of Welancora Gallery, each in Brooklyn, NY. One work debuted prominently at CHRISTIE’S in 2022 in an exhibition and public sale introduced by Investor’s Financial institution in assist of Metropolis Faculty Middle for the Arts. That work, Ibo touchdown #5, has returned to the market, together with eight different renderings from the sequence and one large-format portray, to be exhibited on the United Nations.
Though the drawings have been seldom seen in public, till now, teachers and cultural establishments have sought the work out to liven up analysis and findings on American historical past, the Ibo, and the Transatlantic Slave Commerce. In consequence, Nelson’s drawings have appeared in quite a few books, journals, and articles on slavery and have been most lately featured within the Netflix sequence, “Stamped From the Starting” and on the Nationwide Museum of African American Historical past and Tradition’s web site. Organizers on the UN have been among the many followers and champions of this extraordinary work since a minimum of 2019.
Donovan Nelson was born in Manchester, Jamaica, WI and relocated to the U.S. in 1982. He obtained a B.F.A in illustration from the College of the Arts in Philadelphia, PA and moreover studied portraiture and determine portray on the prestigious Pennsylvania Academy of Tremendous Arts earlier than occurring to earn his M.F.A. from the New York Academy. He lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.
The Ibo Touchdown exhibition opens on March twenty fifth with a reception and presentation within the exhibition area close to the Vienna Café on the United Nations Headquarters in New York.
