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Lina Iris Viktor

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British-Liberian visual artist
Lina Iris Viktor
Notable workA Haven. A Hell. A Dream Deferred
Movement
Websitehttps://www.linaviktor.com/

Lina Iris Viktor is an Italy-based Liberian-British visual artist who is known her paintings, sculptures, photographs, and performance art. She moved to the south of Italy in 2022[1] Viktor combines ancient and modern art forms to create multimedia paintings.[1] She does this by combing an ancient technique called gilding with photography and painting to create "symbols and intricate patterns."[1] She overlays 24-karat gold over dark canvases to create works with "layers of light".[1] Allison K. Young in Haven. A Hell. A Dream Deferred says that these multimedia paintings suggest "the socio-political and historical preconceptions surrounding ‘blackness’ and its universal implications".[1] The New York Times described her paintings as "queenly self-portraits with a futuristic edge".[2]

Biography

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Lina Iris Viktor was born to parents from Liberia, West Africa.[3] Her parents left Liberia because there was a civil war going on in the 1980s, which is why they moved to the U.K.[4] She traveled frequently as a child and for numerous years lived in Johannesburg, South Africa. [1] She studied film at Sarah Lawrence College and photography at the School of Visual Arts in New York City.[5] Lina Iris Viktor in 2016 was thinking about creating artwork that corresponds to the history of Liberia, but it took around a year for her to articulate this concept because of how "complex and misunderstood" Liberia is.[1] In 2017, The New Orleans Museum of Art contacted Viktor for a solo show exhibition that "speaks to interconnected histories of West Africa and the American South".[1] Viktor’s solo exhibition is titled A Haven. A Hell. A Dream Deferred.[1] In an Interview with Ekow Eshun, he talks about inviting different artists including Lina Iris Viktor in 2022 to be a part of a show titled The Black Fantastic located at the Hayward Gallery in London.[6] Eshun in this interview said that Viktor came to visit the Hayward Gallery and was immediately inspired to create "two new sculptural works and three new paintings for the show".[6]

In 2018, Viktor was involved in a legal dispute with Kendrick Lamar involving appropriation of her imagery for the video for "All the Stars" by SZA and Lamar. The dispute was settled.[7] [8]

She is represented by Pilar Corrias, London.[9]

Art

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Viktor integrates painting, sculpture, photography, sculpture, and gilding to portray the history of Liberia while also investigating "the relationship between art, prophecy, and spiritual belief".[10] Viktor is inspired by source imagery including "astronomy, Aboriginal dream paintings, African textiles, and West and Central African myth and cosmology".[11] Specifically in her series A Haven. A Hell. A Dream Deferred she discusses the "mythic history" of Liberia.[10] In a book titled Africa State of Mind Ekow Eshun says Viktor "knits together events and images both factual and fantastical, [and] conjures Liberia as an uneasy utopia, both a paradise lost and cautionary tale of pathology of colonization".[10] In Viktor's multi media paintings the central figure pay homage to the figure of Libyan Sibyl.[10] The Libyan Sibyl is a classical mythological figure that can depict the future.[10] The Libyan Sibyl figure is also "used as a common motif in the art and literature of the American abolitionist movement".[10] Viktor uses iconography from Liberia and the United States in hopes to emphasize "the depth and complexity of African history and experience".[10]

Notable works

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A Haven. A Hell. A Dream Deferred Series

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In this series Viktor creates mixed media paintings to depict the history of Liberia.[1] Throughout the series she incorporates bold red lines to mimic "tropical foliage" and geometric patterns to imitate "the crimson stripes of the Liberia's flag".[1] She uses colors red, white, and blue "to invoke the shared national iconography of both Liberia and the United States".[1] Viktor says she wants to create a different perspective on "lost narratives" that connect the United States to Liberia.[1] The central figure in these paintings represent the Libyan Sibyl, and this figure is wearing "patterns of Dutch Wax fabrics".[1] The title of this series is inspired by Montage of a Dream Deferred by Langston Hughes.[1] The phrase "A Dream Deferred" is supposed to represent "the unrealized dreams and broken promises that punctuate Black American experience".[1] Viktor hopes that this series educates others about the misconceptions of Liberia and the importance of the African Diaspora and its cultural history.[1]

Third

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This is part of the A Haven. A Hell. A Dream Deferred Series and depicts a Libyan Sibyl "beside Liberia's flag, as if posing for a formal portrait".[1] Viktor experiments with portraiture and "uses textile patterns as backdrops" and uses similar photographic compositions from West African photographers like Oumar Ka, Seydou Keita, Malick Sidibe, and Mamma Casset.[1]

Fourth

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This is part of the A Haven. A Hell. A Dream Deferred Series and illustrates a Libyan Sibyl figure holding a book in her left hand.[1] The book, the robe, and the figures' posture are iconographic elements that pay tribute to the mosaic floor in the Siena Cathedral titled Sibylla Lybica.[1]

Solo exhibitions

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  • 2014: Arcadia, Gallery 151, New York, NY[1]
  • 2017: Black Exodus: Act I — Materia Prima, Amar Gallery, London, United Kingdom[12]
  • 2018: The Black Ark, The Armory Show | Mariane Ibrahim Gallery, New York, New York[13]
  • 2018: A Haven. A Hell. A Dream Deferred, New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, Louisiana[14]
  • 2019: Some Are Born To Endless Night — Dark Matter, Autograph ABP, London[15]

Group exhibitions

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  • 2014: Intangible Beauty: Beautiful Women and The Endless Void, Kasher Potamkin, New York, New York.[1]
  • 2016: Africa Forecast: Fashioning Contemporary Life, Spelman College Museum of Fine Art, Atlanta, Georgia[16]
  • 2016: As The Cosmos Unfolds, The Cob Gallery, London, United Kingdom.[1]
  • 2016: Sisters of The Moon, Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft, Louisville, Kentucky.[1]
  • 2016: The Woven Arc, The Cooper Gallery Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts.[1]
  • 2016: Art of Jazz: Form, Performance, Notes, The Cooper Gallery and Harvard Art Museums, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts.[1]
  • 2017: Lines, Motions, and Rituals, Magnan Metz, New York, New York.[1]
  • 2017: Back Stories, Mariane Ibrahim Gallery, Seattle, Washington.[1]
  • 2018: Re-Significations: European Blackamoors, Africana Readings, Zisa Zona Arti Contemporanee (ZAC) Manifesta European Contemporary Art Biennial 12, Palermo, Italy[17]
  • 2018: The Artsy Vanguard, Dior and Bergdorf Goodman, New York, New York.[1]
  • 2018: Hopes Springing High — Gifts Of Art By African American Artists, Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, CA[18]
  • 2022: In the Black Fantastic, Hayward Gallery, London[19]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad Viktor, Lina Iris (2019). Young, Allison K. (ed.). Lina Iris Viktor - A haven. A hell. A dream deferred. Milano: Skira. ISBN 978-88-572-3985-9.
  2. ^ La Ferla, Ruth (December 12, 2016). "Afrofuturism: The Next Generation". The New York Times . ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on May 20, 2017.
  3. ^ Thackara, Tess (December 4, 2018). "Everything This Young Artist Touches Turns to Gold". Artsy . Archived from the original on December 6, 2022. Retrieved January 18, 2023.
  4. ^ Eshun, Ekow (2020). "The Black Fantastic". Aperture (241): 112–119. ISSN 0003-6420.
  5. ^ Copley, Jennifer (September 24, 2018). "This Liberian-British Painter Is Fixing The Art World's Historical Gaps Using 24K Gold". Harper's Bazaar Arabia . Archived from the original on May 9, 2021. Retrieved June 12, 2020.
  6. ^ a b Edwards, Caroline (2023). "Reflecting on the Black Fantastic: An Interview with Ekow Eshun". Dagenham: Science Fiction Foundation. 52 (145): 64–79.
  7. ^ Harris, Gareth (December 30, 2018). "Artist Lina Iris Viktor and rapper Kendrick Lamar resolve Black Panther legal dispute". The Art Newspaper . Archived from the original on January 26, 2022. Retrieved August 27, 2021.
  8. ^ Cascone, Sarah; Goldstein, Andrew (March 9, 2018). "Rising Star Lina Iris Viktor Proves to Be More Than Just a Cause Celebre at the Armory Show". Artnet News . Archived from the original on November 30, 2022. Retrieved August 27, 2021.
  9. ^ Westall, Mark (December 15, 2022). "Pilar Corrias now represent Lina Iris Viktor". FAD Magazine. Retrieved February 7, 2023.
  10. ^ a b c d e f g Eshun, Ekow (2020). Africa state of mind. New York, NY: Thames & Hudson. ISBN 978-0-500-54516-4.
  11. ^ Rugoff, Ralph; Eshun, Ekow; Martin, Kameelah L.; Commander, Michelle D.; Hayward Gallery, eds. (2022). In the Black fantastic. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press. ISBN 978-0-262-04725-8. OCLC 1289253810.
  12. ^ Pogrebin, Robin (February 11, 2018). "Artist Says Kendrick Lamar Video for 'Black Panther' Song Stole Her Work". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331 . Retrieved March 9, 2019.
  13. ^ Wagenknecht, Addie (May 7, 2018). "Mariane Ibrahim Changes The Art World One Armory Show At A Time". Forbes . Archived from the original on December 23, 2022. Retrieved March 9, 2019.
  14. ^ "Lina Iris Viktor: A Haven. A Hell. A Dream Deferred". New Orleans Museum of Art. Retrieved March 9, 2019.
  15. ^ Thompson, Jessie (September 11, 2019). "Lina Iris Viktor on breaking the rules around painting with black". Evening Standard. Retrieved February 7, 2023.
  16. ^ Robinson, Shantay (November 11, 2016). "Review: "Africa Forecast" shows how convention inspires Black women's spirit". ArtsATL. Archived from the original on November 12, 2021. Retrieved March 9, 2019.
  17. ^ Amkpa, Awam (2018). "Resignifications 2018". Villa La Pietra . Archived from the original on September 29, 2022. Retrieved March 9, 2019.
  18. ^ "Hopes Springing High". Crocker Art Museum . 2018. Archived from the original on September 29, 2022. Retrieved March 9, 2019.
  19. ^ Jansen, Charlotte (August 4, 2022). "Stepping Into the Expansive Worlds of Black Imagination". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331 . Retrieved February 7, 2023.

Further reading

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