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Samten Dakpa
Samten Dakpa is an internationally recognized Thanka painter whose work hangs in famous collections throughout the world, including that of the Dalai Lama. In the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, these works of art are models for reflection, meditation, and training the mind. Viewing a Thanka painting is considered a good deed in itself. Samten Dakpa was born in 1975, the seventh of nine children, to a farming family in the province of Kham, Tibet. As a very young child, he went into the mountains with the shepherds. There, he learned to rely on his imagination, and he developed a keen knowledge of the land. He began Thanka painting at the age of eight. He studied with renowned Thanka masters and then at the university, but he was never a copyist. He maintained the individual, imaginative viewpoint that he had learned as a young child, and he won many significant honors. Dakpa's mother died in the mid-1990s, and he went on a pilgrimage to Lhasa. He was arrested by the Chinese government for being one of a crowd that included a political dissident. The Chinese imprisoned him, beat him, and burned his hands in the fireplace. He escaped Tibet by walking over the Himalayas with others, not all of whom survived the rigorous journey. He found refuge in India and eventually in America, where he spent many months recovering in a New York hospital. Since that time, he has become a figure of major importance as a Thanka painter, sculptor, architect, and teacher. He has designed buildings for Tibetan institutions in India and New York, and is helping to refurbish a retreat house at Jampa Ling Centre in Ireland. A Thanka school under his instruction is planned in Delhi, North India.
Delphine Diallo
Delphine Diallo was born in 1977, in Paris, to French and Senegalese parents. After graduating with distinction from the Acadamie Charpentier School of Visual Art in 1999, she worked as a designer and animator for a number of clients in the music industry, including Coldplay, the Smashing Pumpkins, and Manu Chao. In the last year she moved to New York City, where she works as a freelance graphic artist. She recently had her first show in Brooklyn at Harriets Alter Ego and her second at the Gallery MC.
In 2005, Delphine Diallo traveled to St. Louis, Senegal in search of her family heritage. The ensuing Magic Photo Studio series is inspired in large part by the work of Malick Sidibe, who ran a studio in Bamako, Mali, during the 1960s, producing earnest, straightforward portraits in whimsically painted glass frames. In her work, Diallo compresses pattern and image into a single composition; patterns extracted from the textiles, totemic animals, and plants are brought directly into the image itself and layered on top of the portraits. These techniques are drawn from her background as a graphic designer and illustrator. The alchemical mix of painting, sketching, and notation on top of the images also connects the work to a contemporary vein of graphic-novel and graffiti-influenced drawing in the manner of Zak Smith or Margaret Kilgallen. The result is a richly textured and deeply personalized approach to portraiture.
Visit Delphine online at delphinediallo.com
Article about Delphine in TRACE Magazine
Katherine Dolgy Ludwig
Katherine Dolgy Ludwig has her current painting practice in Toronto, London, and New York. She is well known for her portraits and music paintings that combine collective events, performance, film, and studio work. Until recently teaching Arts Critical Writing (OCAD), she has the MFA (Chelsea College, London Institute); AOCAD (OCAD), BA/BArch (University of Toronto). She is currently on Fellowship with the A.I.R. Gallery Chelsea by invitation from ArtInAmerica, Brooklyn Rail, and NYU Tisch. Featured widely in the press, Katherine paints individuals in communities perceived as uniform, bringing the subjects together to meet at the showing, including past solo shows such as OneGRRLGal (NYC art.les.studios), freedom2BRselves (NYC National Arts Club), The Girl Next Door, Playboy Bunnies (Vegas Stardust Gallery), NaturistsLive&LetLive (Toronto Island Gibraltar Point Center for the Arts), Southwark Police Project (London RKBurt Gallery). Upcoming shows include SPLASH! (Toronto Island GPCA), FaithPainting (tba, Brooklyn), EveryoneItTakes (NYC, Amanda Gillespie Gallery), AIRPlay (NYC A.I.R. Gallery), and AlicebotInLondonland/MostHumanDigibot (London/Rome/LA www.katherinedolgyludwig.com | Download Kathy's article, "When Canaries Face the Cat - Flipping the Bird with Jack the Pelican"Kathy's feature article in the New York Daily NewsKathy's feature article in the New York Times
Ariel Fernandez
Havana-born Ariel Fernandez aka Asho is a Hip Hop historian, journalist, essayist and event organizer. Ariel has distinguished himself as a leader and advocate of Cuban youth culture and social-cultural movements. A widely acclaimed lecturer and proponent of the Cuban Hip Hop movement. Driven by his belief in the power of music to transmit ideas and build community, Ariel started his career as a local DJ in 1996 with a self-made audio system. As DJ Afro, and later DJ Asho, he has DJed in Havana's premier nightclubs and venues, including the landmark Teatro Nacional (National Theater). Determined to further his knowledge of technology, Ariel decided to become a sound engineer, pursued studies in the field, and later went on to work at Radio Ciudad Habana. Disappointed by the exclusivity in mainstream music media, Ariel re-affirmed his commitment to creating a space for new voices, using the rap cubano movement as his tool of choice.
Since 2005, Ariel has lived in New York City where continues to demonstrate his vision, drive, and love for Hip-hop and the arts as vehicles for creating social change. He joined the Board of Advisors of the International Hip-Hop Exchange (IHX) and Planet Hip Hop Festival (PHH) at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) and has co-produced the International Hip-Hop Latino Festival in New York. Ariel is currently working on writing and film projects, while working to bridge the gap between Cuban and international youth communities. Vibe Magazine says "Fernandez does everything but rhyme. He's a DJ, radio personality, promoter, manager and journalist. If you want to know everything about Cuban Hip Hop, ask him. His drive and dedication to the movement is relentless."
Issa Nyaphaga
Issa Nyaphaga is a visual artist. While working as a political cartoonist for a newspaper in his home country of Cameroon, he was imprisoned and tortured for his journalistic drawings. Issa will be in residence at the Center for International Art in Community (CIAC) in New York City from February - April 2007.
Visit Issa online at nyaphaga.com
Artist Statement (MS Word)
Audio file (MP3)
Issa's Blog
Vahagn Vardumyan
From April through June 2007, Vahagn is a visiting guest of the International Center for Tolerance Education (ICTE). Vahagn uses CIAC project space to make his "artivism" and will exhibit his work there during May open studios.
Vahagn is affiliated with the BEM Progressive Youth Action Center in Yerevan, Armenia.
Bara Diokhane
Bara Diokhane is a Senegalese painter, whose studio residency on the Empty Vessel Project (October 2006) focused on transforming the boat into an installation about economic refugees fleeing West Africa on rickety fishing boats bound for Spain.
Visit Bara online at www.baradiokhane.com.
Read about Bara in the New York Times.
Bara's Blog
Jamshid Matin
Jamshid Matin escaped persecution in Kabul, Afghanistan by receiving a student visa to the US after a colleague was shot and killed. CIAC planned a February 2007 speaking tour and newspaper interviews for him and accommodated him at the Flux Factory in New York City.
Visit Jamshid online at jamshidmatin.com.
João Silva Brandão Jr.
João Silva Brandão Jr. has been teaching for several years in a self-created social project called Projeto Língua Solta (Loose Tongue Project), which works with diverse stakeholders from teenagers to housewives in the favelas of Rio de Janiero. From January through March 2007, João is a visiting guest of the International Center for Tolerance Education (ICTE). CIAC hosted a fundraiser for his project in Brazil as well as included him in two speaking engagements to highlight his work (Flux Factory Thursday and New York City Grassroots Media Conference). Download João's profile (PDF)
Marie Claudine Mukamabano
Marie Claudine Mukamabano is a Rwandan genocide survivor as well as a singer/performer using her work in New York City to advocate for orphans back in Rwanda. CIAC facilitated two income generation opportunities (Hattie Carthan Garden International Food Festival performance and Rooftop Films performance) and gave Marie a micro-grant of $100 to stage a 2006 holiday concert in Brooklyn.
Visit Marie Claudine online at freewebs.com/kukindiho.
