Acclaimed Emerging Artists to Lead Workshops at Hudson County Community College

Acclaimed Emerging Artists to Lead Workshops at Hudson County Community College

Azikiwe Mohammed and Rashad Wright will discuss their artistic practices within the context of social and historical studies

JERSEY CITY, NJ – On April 12th and 13th, Rashad Wright and Azikiwe Mohammed will join virtual classes taught by Hudson County Community College (HCCC) Assistant Professor of History Dorothy Anderson, to lead workshops aimed at exploring links between contemporary art practices and imagery to the subjects’ historical antecedents.

Both artists have contributed works to the two-person exhibition at HCCC’s Benjamin J. Dineen and Dennis C. Hull Gallery, “Azikiwe Mohammed: Tales Told from Fold Out Chairs, and Rashad Wright: in heaven’s wakanda,” which is curated by Monira Foundation Executive Director and Curator, Ysabel Pinyol Blasi, and on view until July 16th, 2021.

Rashad Wright is a writer, performer, theater artist, and the former poet laureate of Jersey City, New Jersey. He is the author of Romeo’s Whiskey, a book of prose and poetry, and he has performed his writings from both local and national stages in the form of slam poetry. His many accolades include ranking 25th in the country at the 2019 Individual World Poetry Slam, taking First Place at the Walter Glospie American Academy of Poets Prize, and being inducted into the Academy of American Poets.

Azikiwe Mohammed’s work has been exhibited in galleries both nationally and internationally. In addition to solo exhibitions at the Knockdown Center, SCAD Museum of Art, and Spring Break Art Show, his work has appeared in group exhibitions at MoMA PS1 and the Studio Museum in Harlem, among others. He received the Art Matters Grant in 2015, the Rema Hort Mann Emerging Artist Grant in 2016, and a Rauschenberg Artist Fund grant in 2021. His work has been featured extensively in magazines, including VICE, i-D, Artforum, Forbes, BOMB and Hyperallergic.

Both artists have robust teaching practices: Wright has coached groups like Jersey City Slam, the University Academy Poetry Club, and 6th Borough Slam–a team that placed 10th in the world at the Brave New Voices International Youth Poetry Slam Festival in 2019.

Mohammed is the founder of The Black Painters Academy, a free school in Manhattan’s Chinatown neighborhood, launched in January of this year.

Biographies and images of each artist are available on the Monira Foundation website at:www.monirafoundation.org/education.

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To learn more about Monira Foundation, Hudson County Community College, or to schedule an interview with Dorothy Anderson, Azikiwe Mohammed, or Rashad Wright, please email info@monirafoundation.org or mvitale@hccc.edu. Visit the Monira Foundation website at: www.monirafoundation.org and the Hudson County Community College at: www.hccc.edu.