The Medium is the Message: The African Diaspora Story

Eugene Ofori Agyei, Rita Mawuena Benissan, Michael Dela Dika, Emmanuel Opoku Manu, and Japheth Asiedu-Kwarteng

Guest Curated by Michael Dela Dika

January 8 - February 27, 2022

Reception: First Friday, February 4, 6-9 PM / Hours: Sat-Sun from 2-6 PM

Grizzly Grizzly is pleased to announce The Medium is the Message / The African Diaspora Story, a curatorial project by sculptor and educator Michael Dela Dika. During the summer of 2021 Dela Dika travelled across the states east of the Mississippi conducting studio visits with artists hailing from Ghana and currently residing in the U.S. Premiering the group show at the University of Delaware, Dela Dika reshaped the exhibition specifically for Grizzly Grizzly's intimate space.

In Dela Dika's words, the exhibition itself is "a MEDIUM to provide insight into the diaspora...by having artists share their personal stories of migration, assimilation, or exclusion while expanding the discourse on cultural identity through the lens of contemporary art." He states his intention is"...to translate his cultural background into an exhibition that connects and engages an environment of cultural equity, diversity, access, and inclusion."

The act of curation is an imaginative one where the artist/curator creates dialogue between and context for artist-made objects. Here, it challenges Dela Dika to confront architectural shifts of scale while reframing the exhibition and re-selecting works that further explore the original intent of the show. The Medium is the Message includes sculpture, mixed media, photography, and paintings by Eugene Ofori Agyei, Rita Mawuena Benissan, Michael Dela Dika, Emmanuel Opoku Manu, and Japheth Asiedu-Kwarteng.

Michael Dela Dika is a ceramic sculptor and educator living in Newark, Delaware. He has shown his works internationally in Turkey, Delaware, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Oregon, and Virginia among others. He is a recipient of the A. Gray Magness Fellowship Award (UD) and the Penland School of Craft Full Vision Residency Program Scholarship. Inspired by his experience working in Ghanaian markets, he considers the interplay between tension and balance while emphasizing human fragility, vulnerability and exhaustion in his sculptures. He traverses the complexities of political constructs of identity and states of double consciousness from the point of view of a foreign-resident.

2020-22 Grizzly Grizzly programming and residencies are supported by Added Velocity which is administered by Temple Contemporary at Tyler School of Art and Architecture, Temple University and funded by the William Penn Foundation.

Artist Bios

Eugene Ofori Agyei is a ceramic artist and an educator. He is the 2020-2021 recipient of the University of Florida Grinter Fellowship. He has exhibited his work and conducted residencies internationally in Turkey, GFAA Gallery (FL), Coco Hunday (FL), 4most SAAH Gallery (FL), Alvarez Gallery (CT), and Watershed Center Gallery (ME), among others. He was the 2021 Zenobia awardee at Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts and gleaned Best of Show from The In Art Gallery's social change exhibition.

Japheth Taah Asiedu-Kwarteng is a member and Multicultural Fellow of National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts. His work has been featured in group shows including NCECA Annual and Multicultural Fellowship Exhibitions. He was a presenter for Ghanaian Ceramics Now: Ahoɔden! at the 2021 NCECA Conference. His works are largely inspired by traditional Ghanaian and African symbolism. Asiedu-Kwarteng’s current project explores the good, bad and ugly experiences of migration and a dispersed population.

Rita Mawuena Benissan's photographs of Africans and African Americans showcase the profound beauty and power of black culture. Benissan received her MFA in Photography and African Studies from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. She has worked with community outreach programs including the Children Defense Fund and the United Methodist Youth Alliance, teaching and creating art with students from marginalized areas. She is the founder of Si Hene, a foundation that focuses on preserving Ghana’s chieftaincy and traditional culture.

Emmanuel Opoku Manu is a sculptor and painter who investigates the role of the found object in a global context. His collection of things is a logic born out of his understanding of value, space, and materiality. He received his BFA degree from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi and his MFA in Sculpture from the University of Florida, Gainesville. He is a recipient of James J Rizzi Studio Award, Harold Garde Studio Art Award, College of the Art Dean's Award and Outstanding International Student Award. He has participated in several group exhibitions in Ghana and the US.