Creative Conversations/digital: Faisal Abdu’Allah with Mark Sealy

Wednesday, June 3 | 12PM 

FotoFest and Autograph ABP present a conversation between artist Faisal Abdu'Allah and Mark Sealy, curator of the FotoFest Biennial 2020 central exhibition African Cosmologies: Photography, Time, and the Other.

The relationship between Faisal Abdu’Allah and Mark Sealy spans over 27 years. As Director of Autograph ABP, Sealy has presented Abdu’Allah’s work, commissioned projects, and added the artist’s works to Autograph’s renowned collection. The two will discuss their history working together, the presentation of Abdu’Allah’s work in the “African Cosmologies” exhibition, and the ideas and issues explored in the artist’s work as they relate to the Biennial’s broader curatorial theme.

About the guests
Dr. Faisal Abdu’Allah is an associate professor of art and faculty director of University of Wisconsin–Madison's Creative Arts Community, The Studio. He graduated from the Royal College of Art, and completed his PhD in 2012 at the University of East London. His work has been exhibited widely, including at the 55th Venice Biennale (2013); Centro Atlántico de Arte Moderno (CAAM), Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (2012); National Portrait Gallery, London and Whitechapel Gallery, London (2009); British Film Institute Gallery, London (2008); Serpentine Gallery, London (2006); Chisenhale Gallery, London (2003); and The Studio Museum in Harlem (1997). His works are in the collections of Tate Britain, London; the V&A, London; the National Maritime Museum, London; the Chazen Museum, Madison; CAAM, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria; and the British Arts Council.

Dr. Mark Sealy MBE is interested in the relationships between photography and social change, identity politics, race, and human rights. He has been director of London-based photographic arts institution Autograph ABP since 1991 and has produced numerous artist publications, curated exhibitions, and commissioned photographers and filmmakers worldwide, including the critically acclaimed exhibition Human Rights Human Wrongs at Ryerson Image Centre, Toronto in 2013 and at The Photographers’ Gallery, London in 2015.

Sealy has written for international photography publications, including Foam Magazine, Aperture, Creative Camera and Next Level, and written numerous essays for publications and artist monographs. In 2002, Sealy and professor Stuart Hall co-authored “Different,” which focuses on photography and identity politics. Recent notable projects include the exhibition The Unfinished Conversation: Encoding/Decoding for the Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery in Toronto and critically acclaimed exhibitions on the works of James Van Der Zee, Gordon Parks, Carrie Mae Weems, Rotimi Fani-Kayode and on the works of Mahtab Hussain and Maud Sulter.

His most recent book, Decolonizing the Camera: Photography in Racial Time, was published in 2019 by Lawrence and Wishart.