Creating Dangerously, in Dangerous Times

What does it mean to create when the world feels dangerous and uncertain? And how does witnessing turmoil in your homeland affect your art and your sense of self? Inspired by their relationship to Haiti and the act of creation, this special conversation brings together a group of celebrated creators to explore these urgent and thought-provoking questions.

Join us for a conversation featuring internationally acclaimed, Haitian American novelist, short story writer, and MacArthur Genius Fellow, Edwidge Danticat, alongside Haiti-born, Montreal-based multidisciplinary artist, Manuel Mathieu. His works are currently on view at MOCA in two inter-connected exhibitions: World Discovered Under Other Skies and Dwelling on the Invisible, exploring themes similarly found in Danticat’s work, such as migration and displacement, political upheaval, and the complex relationships of family, community, and the self.

Moderating this enriching conversation is the esteemed author and Professor Terri Francis, who will facilitate a discussion that promises to be an illuminating exploration of the intersections of creating, art and identity.

Arrive early and join us on MOCA’s Plaza for a Haitian Konpa Pop-Up dance celebration in collaboration with City of North Miami!

5:30 PM | Haitian Konpa Pop-Up celebration

7:30 PM | Conversations at MOCA featuring Edwidge Danticat and Manuel Mathieu, moderated by Professor Terri Francis.

This event is free with admission.

RSVP: https://111401.blackbaudhosting.com/111401/Conversations-at-MOCA--Narratives-on-Creating-Dangerously

ABOUT THE PANELISTS

‍Edwidge Danticat is the author of several books, including Breath, Eyes, Memory, an Oprah Book Club selection, Krik? Krak!, a National Book Award finalist, The Farming of Bones, The Dew Breaker, Brother, I’m Dying, Create Dangerously, Claire of the Sea Light, The Art of Death, and Everything Inside, a Reese’s Book Club selection, and National Book Critics Circle Awards winner. She is also the editor of The Butterfly's Way: Voices from the Haitian Dyaspora in the United States, Best American Essays 2011, Haiti Noir, and Haiti Noir 2. She has written seven books for children and young adults, Anacaona, Behind the Mountains, Eight Days, The Last Mapou, Mama's Nightingale, Untwine, My Mommy Medicine, as well as a travel narrative, After the Dance. Her memoir, Brother, I'm Dying, was a 2007 finalist for the National Book Award, and a 2008 winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for autobiography. She is a 2009 MacArthur fellow, a 2018 Ford Foundation “Art of Change” fellow, a United States Artists Fellow, a two-time winner of The Story Prize, the winner of the 2018 Neustadt International Prize, the 2019 St. Louis Literary Award, and the 2020 Vilcek Prize for Literature.

Manuel Mathieu (b. 1986 in Port-au-Prince) lives and works in Montreal. He received his BFA from Université du Québec à Montréal and his MFA from Goldsmiths, University of London. Mathieu was an artist in residence at Akademie Schloss Solitude, Stuttgart (2019-20), and the Pamela Joyner and Alfred J. Giuffrida residency program, Sonoma CA (2019). Recent solo exhibitions have been held at Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (2020); HDM Gallery, Beijing (2019); The Armory Show, New York (2018); Tiwani Contemporary, London (2017); and Institute of Contemporary Art, London (2015). He has participated in numerous group exhibitions held in Canada, the United States, and Europe, including Fondation Phi, Montreal (2020); Pérez Art Museum Miami (2019); Frieze London (2018); Art Basel (2017); and Grand Palais, Paris (2014). Mathieu was one of the artists recognized by the 2020 Sobey Art Award.

Dr. Terri Francis is the author of Josephine Baker’s Cinematic Prism and an associate professor of cinematic arts at the University of Miami. Her curatorial work concerns film preservation and Afrosurrealism, which is the subject of her forthcoming book. Dr. Francis is a 2022 Andy Warhol Foundation Arts Writing winner and her articles have been published on Salon, Another Gaze, and a variety of academic journals.

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