Exhibition of Amalia Amaki’s art set in Washington

‘Blue Lady’ by Amalia Amaki

1:44 p.m., May 20, 2005--Amalia Amaki, artist, assistant professor of black American studies and curator of the Paul R. Jones Collection, will showcase her work in a mid-career solo exhibit, "Amalia Amaki: Boxes, Buttons and the Blues," this summer at the National Museum of Women in the Arts, in Washington, D.C.

The show, which runs from Friday, June 10, through Sunday, Sept. 25, will feature Amaki’s trademark mixed-media creations, including quilts, souvenir fans and digitally manipulated photographs, and will highlight works completed within the past 10 years.

“All the pieces in the show are from the past decade, but they represent the primary themes I’ve been working on for over the past 30 years,” Amaki said.

Known for incorporating fabric, beads, pearls, buttons, paint, found objects and glitter into her three-dimensional creations, Amaki said that she strives to address the relationship between perception and interpretation in her work, particularly the undercurrents that play a part in discrimination and stereotying.

“A lot of my work really is about women, African-American culture, and what I call ‘exposes on normal lives,’” Amaki said. “I want to show that African-American women are not overburdened with the often skewed image of us that’s perceived by others. Also, my work is a visual cultural study, and, by that, I mean that it reflects how we in society at large perceive ourselves and others.”

‘Original Treats’ by Amalia Amaki

Amaki added that in addition to the theme of perception, she strives to address the theme of desire in her work as well. This is something she accomplishes, she said, both through the use of tactile surfaces and through the use of sensual imagery that she pulls from the musical genre of the blues.

“Blues--particularly women in the blues--is a theme I use over and over,” Amaki said. “It’s a very complex genre of music. So many aspects of African-American culture are at the root of blues--social, political and artistic sensibilities--and they often get rolled into one ball. But in fact, blues music has a lot of depth below its surface. It’s a very scenic musical genre.”

Amaki said that an exhibit of photographs titled “Women in Blues and Jazz,” that will be showing simultaneously at the National Museum of Women in the Arts this summer, complements this theme in her own work.

“What I especially like about the blues women is that they are very natural,” Amaki said. “Some songs they sing touch on the larger experience of society, but all of them sing from a personal joy or desire.”

The “Women in Blues and Jazz” exhibit showcases 45 photographs of female blues and jazz musicians, including Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Shirley Horn, Bessie Smith, Sarah Vaughan and Dinah Washington. Photographs run the gamut from live performance shots to publicity stills, and focus on the artists’ concentration and artistic passion.

‘Blink’ by Amalia Amaki

The collection includes photographs by William P. Gottlieb, Stanley Kubrick and Carl Van Vechten and were gathered from a number of sources, including the Library of Congress, the Archives Center at the National Museum of American History and the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.

For more information on both exhibits, including individual and group rates, call the National Museum of Women in the Arts at (202) 783-7996. Guided tours must be arranged at least four weeks in advance.

“Amalia Amaki: Boxes, Buttons and the Blues” is sponsored by the Coca-Cola Co. A collaboration between the National Museum of Women in the Arts and the Spelman College Museum of Fine Art in Atlanta, “Amalia Amaki: Boxes, Buttons and the Blues” will be on exhibit at the Spelman College Museum of Fine Art in Atlanta from Jan. 26-May 13, 2006.

Article by Becca Hutchinson
Images courtesy of Amalia Amaki

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