This new exhibition in downtown White Plains foregrounds a more inclusive recounting of the past and present. Supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts, participating artists explore how images and language (together and independently) shape our collective memory and mainstream narratives.
ArtsWestchester CEO Janet Langsam explains, “We are story-keepers here and have become a repository of voices – the voices of women, immigrants, minorities, indigenous peoples – that echoed stories left out of history books. This is one of the reasons we call ourselves the Arts Exchange.” She continues, “Years ago, banks were called exchanges, and we house our gallery in the former People’s National Bank. Here in our home, we amplify diverse voices. As a community museum, we collect and reveal our peoples’ pasts as well as their future aspirations. Those voices that are most yearning to be heard are the voices in this exhibition.”
Yonkers native Ridikkuluz is one of the artists featured in the exhibition who asks challenging questions about truth and history.
Ridikkuluz is a self-taught, New York-based, queer, Jordanian-American multidisciplinary artist working in painting, sculpture, performance and video. His work focuses on marginalized identities and their spaces through figurative portraiture.
“My work encompasses identity, duality and intense emotion—all while bridging the gap between Western and Arab culture,” said Ridikkuluz.
Other Participating artists in the White Plains show are: Gina Adams, Natalia
Arbelaez, Jennifer Ling Datchuk, ForFreedoms, Mariam Ghani, Jeffrey Gibson, Mona Saeed Kamal, Cannupa Hanska Luger, Susan Manspeizer, Sana Musasama, Kambui
Olujimi, Jorge Otero-Pailos, Eric Rhein, Lauren Sandler, Jean-Marc Superville Sovak, and Howard Skrill.
Co-curated by Randy Williams, Professor of Studio and Art Education at Manhattanville
College, this exhibition has an international roster of 21 artists. Williams explains, “This exhibition not only invites the viewer to experience the practices of these artists, but it also reminds us that we each have our own accounts of history as well. Who Writes History? reminds us that history is not a spectator’s sport. The only equipment we need in order to participate and share, is a clear vision of our encounters, past and present.”
Advance registration is required to visit ArtsWestchester’s gallery and can be reserved at www.artswestchester.org/who-writes-history. The exhibition is on view through July 3, 2022 at 31 Mamaroneck Ave., White Plains, NY. www.artsw.org ☐
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