HOMO SARGASSUM
Image : Camille Chedda, Landfall, mixed media, 2021
The Tout-Monde Foundation (TMAF) and the FSU Winthrop King Institute invites Caribbean artists, scientists, scholars and bio-tech experts, to reflect on the ecological, cultural and anthropological implications of the proliferation of the sargassum seaweed on Caribbean coasts and populations, through an exhibition at the FSU Museum of Fine Arts (MoFa) and an international symposium with the FSU Winthrop King Institute.
The exhibition highlights the work of 23 Caribbean contemporary artists. Co-curated by Vanessa Selk, TMAF Founding Member Executive & Artistic Director, and Michael Carrasco, Associate Dean for Research in the College of Fine Arts, the exhibit gives consideration to the human-induced adverse environmental effects of sargassum in Florida and the Carribean, where sargassum takes on metaphoric roles to address the social and historical atrocities of the Middle Passage. It is an opportunity to imagine a new human-nature symbiosis that transcends the existing barriers between humans and the environment.
The HOMO SARGASSUM project is also an occasion to hold an open conversation about the adverse environmental effects of sargassum. On September 26 and 27, the FSU Winthrop King Institute will host an international symposium, in collaboration with FSU MoFA and the TOUT-MONDE Art FOUNDATION, to explore the phenomenon of sargassum in the Circum-Caribbean and the ways in which a broad range of artists have incorporated it in their work.
Confirmed Speakers, Artists, and Performers include: Billy Gerard Frank, Caecilia Tripp, Chris Cyrille, Florence Ménez, Jean-Baptiste Herné, Libby Fowler Beagle, Marina Reyes Franco, Martin Munro, Michael Carrasco, Morel Doucet, Moses Maerz, Mora J. Beauchamp-Byrd, Nicolas Derné, Nyasha Laing, Sarra Gaspard, Tatiana Flores, Vanessa Selk, Louisa Marajo.
This exhibition is made possible with the support of Étant donnés, a program by Villa Albertine and Albertine Foundation with the exclusive sponsorship of AXA, in partnership with Institut Français, French Ministry of Culture and ADAGP.