Art + Culture Diaries: YOUNITY
After spending many years involved in the art world it became evident, to YOUNITY founders/artists Toofly and Alice Mizrachi (AM), that urban contemporary women artists were in need of a properly organized forum of exchange amongst themselves, the public at large and female youth artists on the rise. After only one year, the organization is emerging at the forefront of a global movement to establish platforms and infrastructure for urban contemporary women artists. With an eye on the past, present and future, the collective embraces and includes, among others: legends Martha Cooper and Lady Pink; contemporary scenemakers Toofly and Swoon; urban inspired fine art creators Mizrachi and Meredith McNeal; photographers Laylah Amatullah Barrayn and Abeni Garrett; and, the YOUNITY Youth team. Worldwide members include passionate graffitistas Faith47 (South Africa), Sofia Maldonado (Puerto Rico), MAD C (Germany) and Shiro (Japan), to name a few.
(Image: Martha Cooper, Alice Mizrachi, 2008, painting at We B* Girlz in Berlin, Germany)
Although the YOUNITY collective spans a diverse array of artforms and styles, one of its goals, “…to allow members to explore their own flavor while retaining their identity within the context of a collective body…”, is anchored by the collective’s roots in urban culture and that culture’s divinely appointed art form – Graffiti. YOUNITY’s goals also include a commitment to the creation and documentation of a space specific to the expressions of contemporary urban women artists, a space that has largely been represented in popular culture as the domain of men. To this end the collective is involved in producing exhibitions, establishing an online presence and the publishing of a collector’s book series.
(Image: Martha Cooper, Toofly, 2008, painting at We B* Girlz in Berlin, Germany)
YOUNITY’s second annual exhibition, Heart & Soul, will feature the launch of the collective’s first book in its collector’s series, also entitled, Heart & Soul (self-published by YOUNITY Arts). The book and the exhibition features 60 artists and promises a site specific installation and video projection within the shows indoor/outdoor gallery space. Heart & Soul opens on October 17, 2008 and is on view until November 17, 2008, at Alphabeta in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. For details click here.
(Images from left to right: Abeni Garrett, Heart & Soul (2008), book cover, and Abeni Garrett, Younity Collective, Queens, NY, 2008, documentation of a YOUNITY Collective meeting)
