SAVVY Contemporary proudly announces its August 2014 scholar-and artist-in-residence

Myron Beasley, Ph.D. is a scholar, curator and performance artist. He lectures in the areas of Cultural Studies, African American Studies, and Women and Gender studies as associate professor at Bates College, USA. His ethnographic research includes exploring the intersection of cultural politics, art and social change, as he believes in the power of artists and recognize them as cultural workers; He has been awarded fellowships and grants by the Andy Warhol Foundation, the Whiting Foundation, National Endowment for the Humanities, and most recently the Ruth Landes Award from the Reed Foundation, for his ethnographic writing about art and cultural engagement. The Ghetto Biennale (Haiti), CAAR Paris (France) are two examples of his curatorial work. His writing has appeared in many academic journals including The Journal of Poverty, Text and Performance Quarterly, Museum & Social Issues, The Journal of Curatorial Studies and Performance Research. At SAVVY he will be researching/writing his book on the topic of Ethnography, Necropolitics and Performance Art in the African Diaspora of which he was awarded the Ruth Landes Award to support this endeavor.

Uche Uzorka is a mixed media artist who lives and works in Lagos, Nigeria. Uzorka was born in 1974 in Delta State, Nigeria, and graduated in 2001 from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, majoring in painting. Uzorka’s practice incorporates painting, collage, cutting and pasting, charcoal, and ink drawing in an examination of processes of urban street culture. Uzorka won First Place in the National Art Competition in 2011 for his collaboration with artist Chike Obeagu. His first solo exhibition, Uche Uzorka: The Organic, was held in October 2012 at Goethe-Institut Nigeria in association with the African Artists’ Foundation. Line.Sign.Symbol, Uzorka’s second solo exhibition, was held at the African Artists’ Foundation in January 2013. Other exhibitions include Where were you when I was here?, 2014, Sübkültür Bayreuth Germany, Integration and Resistance, 10th Biennale of Havana, Havana, Cuba, 2010. Uche Uzorka’s residendy is supported by the Goethe-Institut Nigeria.