NEW YORK – Artist Residency Center Athens (ARCAthens) shared its program updates on July 25 and introduced the Fellows for the current program, the 7th Virtual Residency (AVR7), with Visual Art Fellows Amalia Vekri, Jaleeca Yancy, and Curatorial Fellow Amanda Johnson. ARCAthens’ newest program, the NOLA/NYCBX Research Fellowship 2023 pilot program with Danai Giannoglou and Maro Michalakakos, concluded in June.

ARCAthens also shared that the Fall 2023 Athens Residency Applications closed and were a success with over 300 applications received. The Fellows will be announced later this summer.

Of the current program, the AVR7, Curatorial Fellow Amanda Johnson said: “Jaleeca and Amalia have been engrossed in the process of crafting new artworks, brilliantly exploring the theme of femininity through the captivating lenses of folklore, ritual, and spirituality.”

She continued: “The journey of each week is an enthralling spectacle, as Amalia and Jaleeca share a treasure trove of captivating images, literary inspirations, cultural references, and mesmerizing works in progress, all intimately tied to the overarching theme. These glimpses into their artistic processes become like windows, allowing us to witness the birth and evolution of their creative visions.”

“And finally, the grand culmination of this artistic voyage arrives each Friday, as the artists reveal their finished pieces,” Johnson noted.

Amanda Johnson is a South Bronx based artist and curator. She obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Fine Art with concentrations in Photography and Art History from Earlham College. Johnson recently received her Masters of Fine Arts in Photography from Parsons School of Design at The New School. In both her art and curatorial practices, Johnson draws influence from and creates conversations about Blackness, culture and the female identity in both the canon of art but social political and historical structures. Johnson has curated exhibitions nationally in New York, Miami, Houston, Washington DC, and Indiana. She has also curated shows internationally for the Pingyao International Photography Festival in China and at Platform L in Seoul, Korea.

Amalia Vekri is a Greek artist based in Athens. Parallel to her own artistic practice, she has initiated curatorial and publishing projects. She is also the programming director of Haus N Athen, since its foundation in 2018. Her practice looks into the journeys of her female subjects, very often inspired by the lives of her own ancestors; how these experiences relate to history, myth and pop culture. Her work is also touching on perceptions around the fragility of the body, the passing of time, sexuality and fear. Very often she is using elements or characters from the horror genre reflecting on otherness and gender.

Jaleeca R. Yancy is a contemporary artist working with mixed media, paper, and textiles. From Memphis, Tennessee, she currently lives and works in New York. Her abstract compositions are rooted in experimentation, radical imagination, and sustainability. She creates contemplative work prompted by self-identity, black culture, and mythology informed by history, literature, music, and spirituality.

The ARCAthens Virtual Residency program features three Fellows: a curator and the two artists they select, one in Greece, and the other in the Bronx, NY. The artists are in conversation for one month posting daily on Instagram. Mediated by the curator, the artists work with social media as their medium to create a bridge between the two vibrant communities. The conversations they make through Instagram which you can follow at @arc_athens are also documented on the ARCAthens website, as well as in the ‘Synopsis’, the culminating public Zoom conversation at the end of their residency.

The 7th ARCAthens Virtual Residency Synopsis will be on Sunday, August 6, 12 PM ET, via Zoom. Register for the cross cultural dialogue with the AVR Fellows online: https://shorturl.at/juAEP.

The NOLA/NYCBX Research Fellowship 2023 was a two month pilot program. Inaugural Fellows, Danai Giannoglou (Curatorial Fellow) and Maro Michalakakos (Visual Art Fellow), were immersed in the vibrant cultural fusion of New Orleans and New York City, where the rich heritage of two distinctive American cities offered a unique opportunity to actively connect with two communities known for their art and diversity through public presentations, bespoke studio visits to local artists, enriching cultural and educational excursions, as well as meaningful interactions with professionals from esteemed institutions.

The legendary Camp Abundance was the base for the program in April with the Fellows able to connect with the larger New Orleans community.

The ARCAthens HQ in the Bronx was the base in New York City for the program in May where the Fellows were ideally situated to explore all the boroughs while focusing on connecting and engaging with the local Bronx art community.

A visual archive of the NOLA/NYCBX Research Fellowship Spring 2023 pilot program is available online: https://shorturl.at/ghvK4.