Gallery 102 | HYPHEN AMERICAN
February 8 - March 2, 2018
Hyphen American was an exhibition that took place at Gallery 102 which featured performances by three artists from diverse backgrounds addressing the fluidity, ambivalence and anxiety that can come from a hybrid cultural identity. It also featured several multidisciplinary and performance artists whose works challenge the dominant perception of immigrant communities and people from different cultural and social backgrounds. Fittingly, the idea behind Hyphen American came from two first generation Americans whose similar experiences with their own families and community were the force behind their collaboration. Tsedaye Makonnen, an Ethiopian-American multidisciplinary and performance artist and Alexandra “Rex” Delafkaran, an Iranian-American sculptor, performance artist and curator approached the project from the viewpoint of language and the way it can lay bare the fractured nature of cultural identity. Artists with works in the exhibition include Nana Ama Bentsi-Enchill, Ani Bradberry, Nakeya Brown, Hector Canonge, Hoesy Corona, Dominique Duroseau, Lloyd Foster, Baseera Khan, Zavé Martohardjono, Helina Metaferia, Joseph Orzal, Kunj, Marcelline, Mojdeh Rezaeipour, Tariku Shiferaw, Nyugen E. Smith, Sheida Soleimani, Tsige Tafesse, and Fabiola Yurcisin.