Artist in-Residence Exchange
Spring 2019

Wysing is an associate partner with Future Assembly for an international residency exchange. In its second iteration, Future Assembly takes the form of a two-way exchange between artists Simnikiwe Buhlungu (SA) and Michaela Yearwood-Dan (UK).

Michaela Yearwood-Dan will spend one month in Johannesburg in February 2019, taking part in a curated residency with Visual Arts Network South Africa (VANSA). She will meet with locally based artists and cultural practitioners, have studio space and the opportunity to engage with the art scenes of the city and the country.

In return, Simnikiwe Buhlungu will come to the UK for four weeks in May, spending time in London and at Wysing. During her curated residency Simnikiwe will be introduced to the UK’s cultural networks and experience the energy of the capital city and the focused residency space at Wysing – connecting with a variety of audiences here.

Both artists will be commissioned to make new work that will be exhibited as part of the Lagos Biennial 26 October – 30 November 2019.

Founded by Curator, Hansi Momodu-Gordon, Future Assembly is a platform for bespoke international artist residencies, unique opportunities to exhibit work and mentoring to artists who are at pivotal moments in their careers.

Biographies

Simnikiwe Buhlungu (b. Johannesburg, 1995) is a recent graduate from the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa, and a member of the collective Title in Transgression. Buhlungu’s works materialise through text, print, installation or digital media and delve into socio-political and historical narratives. Buhlungu's practice undertakes an analysis of language and the relationships between messages conveyed visually, linguistically and sonically. Her works pose questions that are intentionally unanswered or even unanswerable, but that act as a catalyst for social discourse.

Michaela Yearwood-Dan (b. 1994) is a London based artist. Working predominantly with paint and collage, Yearwood-Dan mixes traditional Fine Art with elements of pop culture; often interchanging between figurative and abstract work. Vibrant botanical homages to the Caribbean are juxtaposed against urban aesthetics. 

Yearwood-Dan’s work explores themes of class, culture, race, gender and nature through a nostalgic lens. Taking inspiration from personal and archival photographs of black livelihood, and reflecting on the duality in her mixed Caribbean and British cultural upbringing.

A graduate of Fine Art from the University of Brighton, Michaela Yearwood-Dan was selected for Bloomberg New Contemporaries 2017 and has recently exhibited with Unit London, Sarabande Foundation, and Van Goetz Art.

Future Assembly Session Two: Exchange features as part of Africa/UK: Transforming Art Ecologies, a project by New Art Exchange (NAE). Supported by NAE, Arts Council England, and the associate partners VANSA and Wysing Arts Centre.