From L-R: Amber Esseiva, photo courtesy McNair Evans; Jessica Bell Brown, photo courtesy Ethan Hickerson; Lukaza Branfman-Verissimo, Together, 2024, house paint, installation view, Dear Mazie,; ICA at VCU, 2024. (Artwork © Lukaza Branfman-Verissimo; photograph by David Hale)
TICKETS
For Panel Discussion
(5 PM - 6 PM)
General Ticket: $10
Member Ticket: Free, RSVP Required
For Opening Reception
(6 PM - 7:30 PM)
FREE for everyone - NO RSVP IS REQUIRED
Grab a ticket to hear from our special guest and Dear Mazie curator, Amber Esseiva the Senior Curator and Director of Curatorial Affairs at the Institute for Contemporary Art Virginia Commonwealth University (ICA at VCU). Esseiva is joined by Jessica Bell Brown, Executive Director of the ICA at VCU. The two will discuss the importance of Meredith’s legacy, the impetus for the show, as well as navigate guests through the curatorial journey. Following the discussion, guests will be led upstairs to the main gallery for the first look at the visiting exhibition.
The first of its kind, Dear Mazie, explores the life and enduring influence of pioneering architect, educator, and artist Amaza Lee Meredith through newly commissioned works by leading contemporary artists.
Featured Artists include AD—WO (Emanuel Admassu and Jen Wood), The Black School (Shani Peters and Joseph Cuillier), Lukaza Branfman-Verissimo, Kapwani Kiwanga, Abigail Lucien, Practise (James Goggin and Shan James), Tschabalala Self, Cauleen Smith, Donnamarie Barnes, Michael Butler, and Hank Willis Thomas.
Join us as we honor Amaza Lee Meredith, one of the beloved Sag Harbor Saints on our windows and celebrate an important milestone in The Church’s history as we welcome the first presentation a traveling exhibition developed by another museum: Dear Mazie,.
ABOUT OUR SPEAKERS
AMBER ESSEIVA
Curator of Dear Mazie,
Senior Curator and Director of Curatorial Affairs at ICA at VCU
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AMBER ESSEIVA is a Swiss-Senegalese-American curator and educator specialized in producing contemporary art exhibitions and programs by national and international mid-career and emerging artists. Esseiva is currently the Senior Curator and Director of Curatorial Affairs at the Institute for Contemporary Art at Virginia Commonwealth University (ICA VCU). A VCUarts alumna, Esseiva has been essential to the ICA’s programming since joining the institution in 2016. Esseiva is also the Curator-at-Large for The Studio Museum Harlem.
Most recently, Esseiva curated the first contemporary art exhibition dedicated to the life and work of Amaza Lee Meredith titled Dear Mazie, (Sept 2024-March 2025). The exhibition includes commissions by AD-WO (Emanuel Admassu and Jen Wood), The Black School (Shani Peters and Joseph Cuillier), Lukaza Branfman-Verissimo, Kapwani Kiwanga, Abigail Lucien, Practise (James Goggin and Shan James), Tschabalala Self, and Cauleen Smith. Esseiva has also curated solo exhibitions by Kandis Williams, Naima Green, Jeremy Touissaint-Baptise, Dineo Seshee Bopape, Guadalupe Maravilla, and Martine Syms, among others. Other group exhibitions include Great Force (October 5, 2019 – January 5, 2020), the ICA’s exhibition featuring new commissions and recent work by an intergenerational group of 24 artists, exploring how art can be used to envision new forms of race and representation freed from the bounds of historic racial constructs.
Esseiva received her M.A. in 2015 from the Center for Curatorial Studies, Bard College (CCS Bard). She also co-founded the interdisciplinary curatorial journal aCCeSsions and was appointed the curator of the 2014 M.F.A. graduate thesis exhibition at Bard MFA Milton Avery Graduate School of the Arts. She earned a B.A. in Art History from Virginia Commonwealth University.
JESSICA BELL BROWN
Executive Director of the ICA at VCU
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JESSICA BELL BROWN is a curator, writer, and arts leader, currently serving as the Executive Director of the Institute for Contemporary Art at Virginia Commonwealth University. She is the former Curator and Department Head of Contemporary Art at the Baltimore Museum of Art, where she helped transform the collection and collaborated with several artists, including John Akomfrah, Abigail Lucien, and LaToya Ruby Frazier. Her writing has been featured in several artist monographs and catalogues, including Janiva Ellis, Baldwin Lee, Thaddeus Mosley, Lubaina Himid, Matthew Angelo Harrison, Nari Ward as well as Flash Art, Artforum, Art Papers, Hyperallergic, and The Brooklyn Rail. Brown has held roles at Gracie Mansion Conservancy and The Museum of Modern Art, New York. She served as the curator of the Vice President's Residence at One Naval Observatory, under the Biden-Harris administration.