La Vaughn Belle
Wednesday October 4, The School of Visual Arts and Kunsthal Charlottenborg will host an art talk with artist La Vaughn Belle.
La Vaughn Belle is a leading multidisciplinary artist based in the US Virgin Islands whose work centers around creating narratives that challenge colonial hierarchies and narratives.
Over the last 10 years her work has focussed on the colonial legacy of the US Virgin Islands. Having changed hands several times, the longest being Denmark for almost 250 years and the last being the United States the question of coloniality has been a central theme in her work.
Belle’s work is a poetic investigation into the material residues of colonialism. Using architecture, archival images, pottery and other aspects of material culture La Vaughn Belle creates a space to explore collective narratives, memory and identity.
Her work is often presenting alternative narratives of resistance and agency and the power of the imagination to redefine our understanding of our world.
In this talk La Vaughn Belle will share some of her new works that she has developed over the last year and which has been presented as part of the centennial marking the 100 years since Denmark sold the Virgin Islands to the United States.
La Vaughn Belle holds a MFA from the Instituto Superior de Arte in Havana, Cuba and an MA and BA from Columbia University in NYC. She has taught Humanities and Visual Arts at the St. Croix campus of the University of the Virgin Islands.
Her work has been exhibited in numerous exhibitions throughout the Caribbean, the USA and Denmark such as the Museo del Barrio in NY, the Havana biennial, the Museum of the African Diaspora in San Francisco, Overgaden Institute of Contemporary Art & Meter in Copenhagen and the Whim Plantation Museum in St. Croix.
La Vaughn Belle is currently an artist in residence in Copenhagen and her work is being shown in various venues including The Royal Danish Library, Christianborg Palace, Gammel Holtegaard and a public sculpture project that she is developing together with artist Jeannette Ehlers.
The talk will be in English. Admission is free.