For the next event of our new Patron’s Circle: The Coven we are excited to introduce our current and incoming Emma Bee Bernstein Fellows: Destiny Belgrave and Zazu Swistel. On Wednesday, July 21st at 7pm, on Zoom, they will present on their practices and a conversation will follow afterward.

Each year, A.I.R. Gallery’s Fellowship Program supports the burgeoning career of six emerging and underrepresented women and non-binary artists. In 2009, A.I.R. named one yearly Fellowship seat in memory of the artist, activist, writer, and feminist Emma Bee Bernstein (1985-2008). In recognition of Emma’s significant contributions as a young artist, the youngest A.I.R. Fellowship recipient receives the honor of holding the Emma Bee Bernstein Fellowship. July 14th will offer the opportunity to highlight the work of the 2020-2021 and 2021-2022 recipients of this distinction, Destiny Belgrave and Zazu Swistel.

Destiny Belgrave is the 12th recipient of the Emma Bee Bernstein Fellowship, as a 2020-2021 A.I.R. Fellow. Belgrave was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY and nurtured with a Caribbean and African American upbringing. She graduated from the Maryland Institute College of Art in 2018 with a BFA in General Fine Arts and a concentration in Painting. Belgrave’s work has been shown in New York City, Baltimore, and South Korea. She is a mixed-media whirlwind, almost always using paper cuts as her starting point. In her own words, “At its core, my work upholds and uplifts black domestic figures, activities, spaces, and objects, while portraying them as spiritual vessels and sacred experiences.”

Zazu Swistel is a 2021-2022 A.I.R Fellow, and the 13th recipient of the Emma Bee Bernstein Fellowship. Swistel was born in New York City and graduated with a BA from Oberlin College and a Masters of Architecture from the University of Virginia. They straddle both the art and architectural disciplines—preferring that their career forever remain ambiguous. Swistel is an anti-displacement activist and advocate for equity and reimagined environmental perspectives in both policy and educational reform. According to Swistel, “My current work navigates the affliction of the mind when it is constrained by its own territorialized memory. These drawings demonstrate how the surrealist subconscious is always necessarily seen through the lenses of the conceptualized conscious-self.”

TO REGISTER FOR THE EVENT CLICK HERE.

TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE COVEN CLICK HERE.