Afro-Ecuadorian Project
The Africana Studies Program at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville co-hosted a series of events surrounding a photographic exhibit, The Color of the Diaspora: Afro-Ecuadorian Images, October 16-20, 2006. This project on Afro-Ecuadorians grew out of a Fulbright project in Ecuador led by Professor Michael Handelsman of UTK. A leading figure in its development was Dr. William Dewey of the School of Art, who is affiliated with the Africana Studies Program.
Dr. Dewey and Dr. Raymond Hall, of Africana Studies, visited Quito, Ecuador, during January 2006 to finalize the selection of photographs for the exhibit, which traveled to UT and was installed on campus in September. The exhibition of 40 photographs was drawn from the collections of the Fondo Documental Afro-Andino at the Universidad Andina Simón Bolívar. UTK Chancellor Loren Crabtree, Africana Studies Director Dr. Wornie Reed, Dr. Handelsman, and Dr. Hall traveled to Quito in July 2006 to participate in the opening of the exhibit there.
The exhibit, The Color of the Diaspora: Afro-Ecuadorian Images, endeavored to show, in visual form, elements of the lived Diaspora among black peoples in Ecuador and match them with collected oral testimonies. Black Ecuadorians are a population made invisible within a country and region typically defined as indigenous. They are also made invisible within constructions of the broader African Diaspora whose center is frequently thought of as only being from the United States and the Caribbean. As such, the exhibit helps build a more complete view of the African Diaspora.
Dr. Edizon Leon spent the week of October 16-20 at UT participating in a variety of activities, including the opening of the Exhibition at the UT Downtown Gallery on Friday, October 20. A community reception for the photographers was held at the Beck Cultural Exchange Center on Tuesday, October 17.
Color of the Diaspora Photographs
By photographers Edizon León and Juan García
From the Collections of the Fondo Documental Afro-Andino
At the Universidad Andina Simón Bolivár, Quito, Ecuador
With funding from the Haines-Morris Endowment
Monday, October 16, 7:00 pm, Shiloh Room, U.C.
Artists Lecture and Discussion
with photographers Edizon León and Juan García
Sponsored by the Visual Arts Committee
With translation by Dr. Raymond Hall (UT’s Africana Studies Program)
Tuesday, October 17, 5:30 pm., Beck Center
Reception
for the Ecuadorian Visitors at the Beck Cultural Exchange Center
1927 Dandridge Avenue , Knoxville
Wednesday, October 18, 7:00 pm, Shiloh Room, U.C.
Symposium: African Diaspora Studies Through the Arts: North – South Perspectives
- Wornie Reed, (Director of UT’s Africana Studies Program)
- Juan García (Afro-Ecuadorian Historian, Photographer and Political Activist)
- Edizon León, (Afro-Ecuadorian Photographer, Co-curator of the exhibition)
- Patricia Tinajero-Baker, (Ecuadorian Artist and new faculty in UT’s Sculpture Program)
- Michael Handelsman (Director of UT’s Latin American Studies Program)
Reception following, sponsored by MARCO Institute
Friday, October 20, 6:30 – 9:00 pm., Downtown Gallery
Opening
of the Exhibition at the University of Tennessee’s Downtown Gallery
106 South Gay Street
Reception 6:30 – 9:00 pm
Welcome by Chancellor Loren Crabtree at 7:00 pm
Followed by gallery talk with
Ecuadorian photographers Juan García and Edizon León