Nathaniel Donnett | N. Masani Landfair: and/or/existence

October 27 - December 11, 2022

Opening Reception: Thursday, October 27th, 6-8 pm

There are many discorded conversations rooted in the fraught histories of this country that are neglected by what we know as history and public memory. Experiences as common as love and trauma, and involving feelings as universal as vulnerability, frustration, and ecstasy, a myriad of personal stories are distorted by and dismissed from the official narrative—one disguised under the face of the general consensus, but ultimately elaborated, preserved, and mechanically reproduced by the gatekeepers of power. Nathaniel Donnett and N. Masani Landfair are two artists that seek to address these complex histories that oscillate between the notions of observation and memory while incorporating the strategies of Black Aesthetic traditions. 

Nathaniel Donnett’s work discusses existential migration, African American music forms, othering, and the standards of beauty and intelligence critique. Working in collage, installation, performance, sculpture, and community, social, and participatory engaged projects, Donnett imbues every facet of each artwork with meaning and movement. Gathering inspiration and materials from his neighborhood in Houston, Donnett’s utilization of zippers, tambourine chimes, backpacks, and trash bags implies movement, air, and sound. 

N. Masani Landfair creates work that sparks a dialogue about how the misuse of the environment affects health issues, poverty, and climate change. Through collage and filmmaking, Landfair stitches together forgotten fragments from the flotsam of our surroundings. The resulting dreamscapes are at once ephemeral and concrete, with composed juxtapositions about the harsh realities of homelessness, over-consumption, and solitude among others. Using undesirable materials, Landfair plays on the personal meanings tied to previously possessed objects to imbue empathy into melancholic compositions.

The artists in this exhibition show us that we can remove the dichotomies that obscure our view by gathering all the pieces and presenting them as a whole story.