UNDAUNTED: We Are Still Here

West Harlem Art Fund’s fall exhi­bi­tion UNDAUNT­ED: We Are Still Here fea­tures six artists whose paint­ings all depict urban scenes, graf­fi­ti, col­lage, and mixed media works. This exhi­bi­tion includes an immer­sive com­po­nent with a playlist of hip-hop and rap music to hon­or the 50^th anniversary.

The 70’s was a chal­leng­ing decade for New York City and the coun­try. On the heels of the mod­ern Civ­il Rights Move­ment, the coun­try was divid­ed by the war in Viet­nam, Water­gate, and unset­tling eco­nom­ic tur­moil. Pres­i­dent Ford would not help a near-bank­rupt city with a fed­er­al bailout. New forms of expres­sion help Amer­i­cans share their every­day lives and val­i­date those expe­ri­ences. Com­mu­ni­ties of col­or inter­sect­ed via an aging pub­lic trans­porta­tion sys­tem. Despite the chaos, New York­ers per­se­vered. They remained undaunt­ed In this 21^st cen­tu­ry, what lessons can we learn after sur­viv­ing a glob­al pan­dem­ic and a gov­ern­ment coup attempt? How do we push for­ward and cre­ate new under­stand­ing and hope? 

Exhi­bi­tion artists

• Damali Abrams
• Valérie Hal­li­er
• Dianne Heb­bert
• Mark Gas­ton Pearce
• Dianne Smith
• Siyan Wong

The West Harlem Art Fund is one of the 2023 Gov­er­nors Island Arts Orga­ni­za­tions in Residence