Mashonda Tifrere x Urban Zen: Her Time Is Now

HER TIME IS NOW

An active engagement and reflection of the recent gender equality driven actions through the eyes

of four female artists from The East Coast.

Curated by Mashonda Tifrere exclusively for Urban Zen Center

Public Exhibition Dates: March 9th – March 16th 2018

Exhibiting artists include: Lacey Mckinney, Tawny Chatmon, Noemi Manser and Nichole Washington

WHO: Mashonda Tifrere’s ArtLeadHER presents ‘Her Time is Now,’ an exhibition, in the proud partnership with Donna Karan’s Urban Zen Center, launching on International Women's Day 2018.

WHERE: Urban Zen Center 705 Greenwich St, New York, NY 10014

WHAT: ‘Her Time is Now’ is a celebration of the work of four contemporary female artists living and working in New York and Maryland from a myriad of visual art disciplines. The exhibit is a representation of the power of women in organizing recent nationwide activism in the name of gender inequality contextualized through art. ‘Her Time is Now’ will celebrate the achievements of women coming together to stand as one, sharing their stories and inspiring the ongoing journey towards societal equality.

The Exhibit is a collaboration between two female owned and operated establishments, ArtLeadHer, founded by Mashonda Tifrere, a platform dedicated to bringing awareness to the women creating, curating and thriving in the male-dominated art world and Donna Karan’s Urban Zen Center, a progressive space connecting and activating today’s innovators and leaders. ArtLeadHER founder, Mashonda Tifrere, says: “This exhibition is a celebration of sisterhood and femininity. It’s a beautiful demonstration of how women of all ages and races must unite in order to truly stand in power to face the challenges of society.”

The 21 works displayed in the show range in scale and medium. The exhibition demonstrates the complexity and distinctive approach of each artist. From Tawny Chatmon’s use of super-imposed photographic expression in her pieces, to Lacey Mckinney’s layering of emotion into incredibly textured portraits. Noemi Manser’s colorful abstract work brings edge and mystery and Nichole Washington exposes culture and truth with her photography and hand painted gouache details. Whether a proud acknowledgement of womanhood and hidden symbolism, each piece in the show tells a story about its creator and unites all artists in the undeniable womanhood The exhibit will culminate on Thursday March 13th with a panel discussion hosted by ArtleadHER and Urban Zen Center. Moderated by Mashonda Tifrere, the discussion will spotlight gender equality accomplishments and challenge visitors to strive for ongoing conversation and impactful change. Panelist include Nichole Washington-artist, Molly Krause, communications strategist/art publicist, and Sarah Cascone, associate editor at ArtNet and cofounder of Young Women in the Arts.

HER TIME runs from Thursday 8 March to Thursday 16 March at Urban Zen 705 Greenwich St, New York, NY 10014, www.urbanzen.com

About ArtLeadHER:

Art LeadHER is a platform dedicated to celebrating women in the art world and encouraging young women pursuing careers in the visual arts through events and arts education. Art LeadHER encourages camaraderie among female art connoisseurs, buyers and collectors. By pairing underexposed female artists with their established contemporaries, artists are given the opportunity to learn, collaborate and grow.

About Urban Zen Center:

The Urban Zen Center is a place in a space where like-minded individuals and organizations gather for conversations, conferences, seminars, activation, as well as global art exhibits. It connects creatives thinkers, innovators, policy-makers and influencers to discuss today’s challenges, identify solutions and implement action.

About the artists:

Tawny Chatmon: Tawny is a self-taught artist who has been working in the field of photography for the past 16 years. Born in Tokyo, growing up an ‘army brat’, she had the unique opportunity to take in the cultures of three different continents all before the age of 12. For Chatmon, her photographs are the first layer, which she manipulates and unites with other photographic components. Thereafter she often adds overlays of gold leaf, paint, digital collage and illustration. In doing so, she produces a work that is more than just a work of photography but a new photographic expression.

Noemi Manser: Noemi's artwork is like a visual diary. The strain between spiritual and matter, ideals and perversion, her works are presenting these tensions as confused, erotic, duskily but colorful and hopeful. The common elements in her works are single parts of the body, faces and symbols that placed in a symmetric and dramatic way. Her critical view is impacted by not only herself and own experiences but also those of society.

Lacey McKinney: Lacey is an American figurative painter based in Upstate New York. Her work references embodiment and the implications of societal power structures. In her most recent work, depictions of differing corporeal flesh form faces of many women to address perceptions of self and other in elaborate reconstructions of solidarity.

Nichole Washington: Nichole paints and draws on top of her photographic portraits to form a space where women feel protected, loved and respected. Through manipulation of her images she is creating super heroine characters based on the subjects unique physical qualities and her imagination. She hopes that her work will inspire women to live boldly and confidently from the inside out.