In Conversation: Anna Binta Diallo with Diyan Achjadi

Tue 01 Dec 2020 12:59AM

Access' In Conversation events invite artists and thinkers into dialogue with our exhibiting practitioners, with the aim of creating conversations that "thicken" our experience of exhibitions, and link artists' practices to one another and to the wider community. This online conversation will be recorded at the culmination of the programming for Anna Binta Diallo: Wanderings on exhibition from 30 September to 14 November 2020.

Vancouver-based artist Diyan Achjadi in conversation with visiting artist Anna Binta Diallo will discuss resonances in their practices, in the context of Diallo's collage-based installation, Wanderings. Relying heavily on visual research, memory, and assemblage, both artists work to reorganize and reimagine various cross-cultural narratives. Join the artists in considering how their practices align and differ—in material process, conceptual interest, familial/cultural experiences, and approach.

BioS

Anna Binta Diallo is a visual artist who investigates memory and nostalgia to create unexpected narratives surrounding identity. Born in Dakar, and raised in Saint-Boniface, traditional territory of Anishinaabeg, Cree, Oji-Cree, Dakota, and Dene peoples, and the homeland of the Métis. She obtained an MFA in Creative Practice, specializing in video (Transart Institute, Berlin). Her work has been exhibited internationally at La Maison des Artistes Francophones, Art Gallery of Southwestern Manitoba, Art Gallery of Alberta, MOCA Tapei, Towards, and has been featured in numerous publications such as Canadian Art, PaperWait, and Musagetes. Diallo has participated in residencies at The Banff Centre (The Universe and Other Systems & Distributed Identities), and in 2017 was invited to Primary Colours/Couleurs primaires—a multidisciplinary initiative, gathering Indigenous artists and artists of colour to discuss their criticality in Canada’s current discourses. Diallo has been the recipient of multiple grants and honours, notably from The Canada Council for the Arts, The Conseil des Arts et des lettres du Québec, and Francofonds, and in 2019 was shortlisted for the Salt Spring National Art Prize. Following her exhibition at Access, Wanderings will be exhibited as part of Notions Of Place – From Belonging To Displacement, Central Finland Exhibition 2020 (Keuruu Museum, 2020). She is currently based in Montreal, or Tio’tia:ke, on the traditional territory of the Kanien’kehá:ka.

Diyan Achjadi’s practice considers surface ornamentation, historical prints, and illustrations as pictorial archives, and the potential of these forms as sites for knowledge transmission. Her formative years were spent negotiating different educational, political, and cultural systems, leading to an ongoing interest in how our understanding of ideologies is influenced and informed by the visual popular culture that surrounds us. Much of her work examines the (mis)representations, (mis)translations, and imaginings of Indonesia, her country of birth. Diyan received a BFA from the Cooper Union (New York, NY) and an MFA from Concordia University (Montreal, QC). She has exhibited widely at galleries and film festivals across Canada and beyond. Recent projects include Coming Soon!, a year-long commission for the City of Vancouver Public Art Program, and NonSerie (In Commute), part of How far do you travel?, a year-long exhibition on the exterior of public buses, commissioned by the Contemporary Art Gallery (CAG) in partnership with Translink BC. Diyan is an Associate Professor at Emily Carr University, where she teaches Print Media and Foundation.

Access gratefully acknowledges the ongoing support of the following funders as well as our committed family of donors, members, and volunteers, for enabling this organization to remain vigorous and connected to the communities we support.

With gratitude as guests, Access is located on the unceded territories of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.

This exhibition is part of the 2020 Capture Photography Festival Selected Exhibition Program