April 13 to May 15
Reception + Talk April 22nd 5:30-8:00 (talk at 6:30pm)
The JKC Gallery is honored to present an important collaborative and historical collection of work that was organized by MCCC’s Professor of Art, Yevgeniy Fiks. Fiks, is known for his research and curation with a focus on forgotten and unresolved Cold War narratives.of Soviet era art and media and its influence on American Communism and American culture, discovered a striking intersection of ideas and creative influences among the narratives being told by Soviets, American Communists, Africans, and African-Americans. In 2010, He he began collecting artwork and media produced in the Soviet Union between the 1920’s and the 1980’s that testifying to the Soviet Union’s engagement with race relations in the United States and decolonization efforts in Africa. spoke to the idea that Soviet Communism was a haven for Africans who were abused and mistreated in the American Capitalist system. This work came to be known as the Wayland Rudd Collection which is not only a historical collection of Soviet era imagery and text but is also a foundation for invited contemporary artists and scholars to make work in response to this collection.
Only a selection of The Wayland Rudd Collection itself is on display at the gallery, but the works still asks and inspires visitors to consider the complicated relationship between the potential, if not fully realized, of a better Soviet life compared to the harsh lived realities of racism and colonialism experienced by Africans and African-Americans.