Issue 37.1: Featuring the Limited-Edition Print “Gestures on Portrayal” by Luther Konadu

In partnership with PAVED Arts, BlackFlash Magazine is thrilled to announce that our Spring 2020 issue will feature the limited-edition print Gestures on Portrayal by Luther Konadu. This work is a part of a larger body of work that was created during Luther’s fall residency and exhibition at PAVED Arts.

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BlackFlash Magazine and PAVED Arts are proud to collaborate on the production of this limited edition print by Winnipeg-based artist Luther Konadu. Following his solo exhibition “Gestures On Portrayal” in the PAVED Arts Main Gallery space (October 28 to November 7, 2019), all concerned took note of the convergence of interest in Konadu’s practice as reflected by multiple projects to have transpired in our immediate community. In part, the idea of co-producing this project followed from the time that Konadu had in the PAVED Arts production centre, working with the large format digital printing facility to produce new work for his exhibition. These developments were taken in tandem with Konadu’s ongoing relationship to BlackFlash, given that the artist was also, coincidently, named as the 2018 Optic Nerve prize winner. 

It is easy to understand the relevance and wider success of the Konadu’s work given the nature of his inquiry into portraiture. With an implicit critical attitude directed towards historical traditions of portraiture and the attendant problematics of capturing the so-called “other,” Konadu’s subjects remain intimate yet entirely elusive and thereby porous to interpretation. The artist explores the constructive nature of photography and collage by exposing all manner of the mechanical apparatus, including, but not limited to, eye contact, framing devices, physical display, reproduction, and the camera itself. Tacitly resistant to the general contemporary condition of the ubiquitous, narcissistic selfie, Konadu’s practice invites a contemplation of the conceits of digital photography that is indeed countervailing in its force.

– David LaRiviere, Artistic Director, PAVED Arts

Issue 37.1 also features:

Online Exhibitions and the Long Game of History by sophia bartholomew

Family Photos: Notes on Zinnia Naqvi’s Dear Nani and Yours to Discover
by Noa Bronstein

Spectres of Loss: Diaspora and Yearning in the Work of Hagere Selam shimby Zegeye-Gebrehiwot by Hannah Godfrey

Artist Project by Hiba Abdallah titled Declarations for a Different Future with an introduction by Alyssa Fearon

The Walls Have Ears: Judy Radul’s Lasting Phenomenology by Mitch Speed

Partial Accountings of Photography featuring Em Rooney, Jared Thorne, Maria Hupfield, Luke Stettner and Namiko Kunimoto by Sheilah ReStack

Bathed in Rays of Dying Light featuring the work of Nicole Kelly Westman by Sandee Moore