Curators' Talk: As We Move Forward, an Exhibition at Augusta Savage Gallery

As We Move Forward honors the work and legacy of American sculptor and educator Augusta Savage (1892-1962) by gathering the artwork of BIPOC women from Savage’s home state of Florida. Co-curators Juana Valdes and Nhadya Lawes have curated a space of celebration and growth for young artists from Miami and across the Global South.

Valdes and Lawes will give a curators’ talk on Thursday, April 4 at 6 p.m. The exhibition will be on view through Friday, May 10.

Juana Valdes is currently an associate professor in the UMass art department. She uses printmaking, photography, sculpture, ceramics, and site-specific installations, to explore issues of race, transnationalism, gender, labor and class. Functioning as an archive, Valdes’s work analyzes and decodes experiences of migration as a person of Afro-Caribbean heritage. Born in Pinar del Rio, Cuba, Valdes came to the United States in 1971. She received her BFA in sculpture from the Parsons School of Design (1991), and her MFA from the School of Visual Arts (1993). She also attended the Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture (1995).

Nhadya Lawes is an interdisciplinary scholar and arts professional in pursuit of the practical and the poetic in the cultural sector. Lawes is a University of Miami graduate with a bachelor’s in English literature and minors in sociology, art history, and Africana studies. She was born and raised in south Florida — her parents are Jamaican immigrants — and is a champion for arts of social practice and placemaking.

Image: Symone Titania Major, "Hey Y'all", 2022

Augusta Savage Gallery hours: Mondays & Tuesdays 1-7 pm; Wednesdays through Fridays 1-5 pm

Address: New Africa House, 180 Infirmary Way, Amherst, MA 01003