Exhibition | Inner Visions

The ability to contemplate the future with imagination and wisdom is a gift – bestowed upon us by the generations that came (and created) before. This gift carries great potential,
which too often goes ignored.

Over the past 10 months, we have mentored these artists and these artists have mentored us.

We have exchanged inner visions, inspired each other’s imaginations.

Here is some evidence of that exchange.

Because art is proof.
Proof of the ever-evolving dialogue that defines human existence.

May that dialogue never cease to exist.
For when it does, so will art.
And so will we.

Gadi Ramadhani & Darragh Amelia

CLICK ON ANY IMAGE TO VIEW AS A SLIDESHOW

Director’s Note:

When the Nafasi Academy opened in February 2020, we told the students that contrary to what they might expect, we would not be teaching them answers, but questions. We were met with a few bemused stares. Why would anyone join a course to be taught questions? Isn’t it the answers that everyone is seeking?

But what makes art important and meaningful is that it not only reflects the world, but also interprets it. Art allows us to express our own subjective experiences and the specificities of our lives. It encourages us to challenge generalizations and stereotypes that we may have internalized, beliefs imposed but taken for granted. But in order to do this, we must ask difficult questions of the world and our place in it.

What is art? Why does it matter? What is the responsibility of the artist? What is the nature of the artistic process? What is the relationship between art and life?

These are a few of the major questions the artists learned to ask and explore through their work. Now, with their graduation exhibition, they share the visions they have encountered on this journey of questioning. By inviting the audience into their interrogations, they pass this curiosity on to others — to inspire conversation and perhaps to find that the answers are in the questions after all.

Rebecca Yeong Ae Corey