Voices of the Diaspora: The Artisans Behind the Canvas

Amel Bashier (1981- ) is a Sudanese artist whose work includes drawings and paintings. Taking inspiration from themes such as peace, heritage, and feminine strength, she contextualizes the female figure in modern struggles for equality. Bashier's drawings utilize a precise and meticulous pointillistic method. Bashier received a Bachelor of Interior Design at the Sudan University of Science and Technology. 

Amna Elhassan (1988- ) is a Sudanese printmaker, painter, and installation artist. Elhassan's work focuses on the experiences of women. Deeply affected by her country's political and social unrest, her paintings and installations ensure women's challenges and triumphs are not lost. The vibrant and fantastical color palette reflects her love for painting and experimentation with techniques.   Elhassan received her Bachelor of Science from Khartoum University, Khartoum in 2010 and her Master di II Livello in Architecture per la Salute from Sapienza from the University of Rome, Italy in 2013. 

Amoako Boafo (1984- ) is a Ghanaian painter artist whose works center people of the African diaspora underrepresented in contemporary art. He utilizes bold colors and patterns to create self-portraits and portraits of friends and family that he admires. Boafo uses his figures to manipulate the pigments, creating a unique textural and visual experience.  Boafo graduated from the Ghanatta College of Art and Design in Accra, Ghana in 2008. He then attended the Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna, for his MFA. 

Amy Sherald (1973- ) is an American painter. Sherald is most known for her portrait painting of former First Lady Michelle Obama. Through her portraits, Sherald explores how people construct and perform their identities in response to political, social, and cultural expectations. Her colorful, contrasting canvases demand the viewer to see the subject. She uses a grey scale as a skin tone palette to challenge the idea of color as race. Sherald received her bachelor’s degree in 1997 at Clark Atlanta University. She received her MFA at the Maryland Institute College of Art in 2004. In 2021 she received an Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts from Maryland Institute College of Art. 

Ana Silva (1969- ) is an Angolan artist working with painting, drawing, sculpture, and installation. She uses canvas, wood, metal, acrylic, and fabric, working outside defined perimeters. Silva's aesthetic is a story gently suggested behind the laces and nets where female figures revealed themselves. She is working in three main series: Agua, Child, and Grandmother. Agua highlights the difficulty of accessing clean water in Angola, Child speaks to the disruption of childhood due to the responsibility of having to fetch water, and Grandmother is a reflection on the passage of life of Silva's grandmother and daughter.  Silva studied at the ArCo Higher School in Lisbon. 

Anthony Renelle Reed II (1987- ) is an American painter, muralist, and printmaker. His portraits reflect a desire to represent the vibrancy of Black American culture and the city of Miami. He wants to uplift his community. Reed's work utilizes colorful, thick brushstrokes that frame his subjects confidently and regally.  Reed received his Bachelor's Degree in Fine Art with an emphasis in Sequential Art from Savannah College of Art & Design in 2015. 

Antonio Obá (1983- ) is a Brazilian multidisciplinary artist working across painting, sculpture, photography, installations, video, and performance art. His work focuses on the body, Brazilian iconography, and significant events related to Black liberation struggles. 

Anya Paintsil (1993- ) is a Welsh-Ghanaian artist working primarily with textiles. Combining traditional hand rug-making techniques with afro hair styling methods, Anya's practice is largely autobiographical, taking inspiration from her childhood in North Wales, family stories, and Welsh and Ghanaian mythologies. She also explores identity and gendered labor.  Paintstil received a BA in Fine Art from Manchester School of Art in 2020. 

April Bey (1987- ) is a Bahamian-American multidisciplinary artist. Her interdisciplinary work touches on subjects such as a critique of American and Bahamian culture, feminism, generational theory, social media, post-colonialism Speculative futurism/surrealism and Blerd (Black nerd) culture. Bey’s two-dimensional mixed media works and installations incorporate fur, glitter, vinyl and woven textiles, to craft icons around the images of real-life figures from her community. Bey received her BFA degree in drawing in 2009 from Ball State University, and an MFA in painting in 2014 at California State University, Northridge. 

April Harrison is an American illustrator and mixed media artist. Harrison's work is a testament to the strength of faith, family, and friendship. Harrison's mixed media work features elongated forms against palettes of blues, greens, reds, and yellows. Her collage process uses found materials that add a physical dimension to her work and a quilt-like quality. This cements her practice within the tradition of African-American artistic traditions.