Join us at the Stanley Museum of Art for insightful talks by artists Sonya Clark and Taiye Idahor, followed by a conversation with Cory Gundlach, Curator of African Art.

Both Clark and Idahor, whose works are included in the Stanley’s collection, explore critical themes of identity, memory, and cultural heritage through their art, with a shared interest in the visual and symbolic power of hair. Their multidisciplinary approaches, spanning sculpture, textiles, and more, create compelling narratives that resonate with audiences worldwide. Discover how their work challenges, inspires, and contributes to the ongoing dialogue about art and society.

About the artists:

Sonya Clark is an American artist of Afro-Caribbean heritage. She is Professor of Art at Amherst College in Amherst, Massachusetts. Previously, she was a Distinguished Research Fellow in the School of the Arts and Commonwealth Professor at Virginia Commonwealth University where she served as chair of the Craft/Material Studies Department from 2006 until 2017. In 2016, she was awarded a university-wide VCU Distinguished Scholars Award. She earned an MFA from Cranbrook Academy of Art and was honored with their Distinguished Alumni Award in 2011. She has a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Her first college degree is a BA from Amherst College where she received an honorary doctorate in 2015. Her work has been exhibited in over 350 museum and galleries in the Americas, Africa, Asia, Europe and Australia. She is the recipient of a United States Artists Fellowship, a Pollock Krasner award, an 1858 Prize, an Art Prize Grand Jurors Award, and an Anonymous Was a Woman Award.

Taiye Idahor was born in 1984 in Lagos, Nigeria, where she currently lives and works. In 2007, she graduated from Yaba College of Technology in Lagos with a Higher National Diploma in Fine Arts, specializing in sculpture. Taiye Idahor’s multimedia practice combines drawn and collaged photographic elements to reflect on the historical and contemporary status of women in Nigeria, and, more broadly, on the shifting position of women within an increasingly globalized society. Idahor’s work has been exhibited internationally; her first solo show, Hairvolution (2014), was held at the Whitespace Gallery in Lagos. Idahor’s work is part of the collection of the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa, Cape Town, South Africa; the Davis Museum, Wellesley, Massachusetts; and the Brooklyn Museum, New York.