IN DIALOGUE

On the occasion of the exhibition, Torkwase Dyson: Of Line and Memory, GRAY is pleased to present a gallery conversation with interdisciplinary Black Studies scholar Rinaldo Walcott and internationally celebrated artist Torkwase Dyson. Walcott joins Dyson to discuss the artist’s newest work, the liminal space between geography, perception, and memory, and how diasporic movement prompts questions of beauty, augmentation, and forming without the promise of stability.  

Their dialogue will take place at GRAY’s Chicago gallery (2044 W Carroll Ave) on Saturday, November 23, 2024, at 2 PM CT. This event is free and open to the public. RSVP is required.

Torkwase Dyson: Of Line and Memory is on view at GRAY Chicago (2044 W Carroll Ave) from November 8, 2024 through January 25, 2025.

ABOUT RINALDO WALCOTT

Rinaldo Walcott Is Professor and Chair of Africana and American Studies. He holds the Carl V. Granger Chair in Africana and American Studies. He is a writer and critic. His research is in the area of Black Diaspora Cultural Studies, gender and sexuality with interests in nations, nationalisms, multiculturalism, policy and education broadly defined. As an interdisciplinary Black Studies scholar, Walcott has published in a wide range of venues on everything from literature to film, to theatre to music to policy. His articles have appeared in scholarly journals and books, as well as popular venues like newspapers and magazines and media online sources. He often comments on black cultural life for radio and TV.

Walcott has edited or co-edited multiple works including Rude: Contemporary Black Canadian Cultural Criticism (Insomniac, 2000). Walcott is the author of Black Like Who: Writing Black Canada (Insomniac Press, 1997 with a second revised edition in 2003). He is also the author of Queer Returns: Essays on Multiculturalism, Diaspora and Black Studies (Insomniac Press, 2016) and co-author of Black Life: Post-BLM and the Struggle for Freedom (Arbeiter Ring, 2019). In 2021, Walcott published The Long Emancipation: Moving Towards Freedom (Duke University Press) and On Property: Policing, Prisons, and the Call for Abolition (Biblioasis) which was nominated for the Heritage Toronto Book Award, longlisted for the Toronto Book Awards, a Globe and Mail Book of the Year, and listed in CBC Books Best Canadian Nonfiction of 2021.

ABOUT TORKWASE DYSON

American interdisciplinary artist Torkwase Dyson (b. 1973 Chicago) combines expressive mark-making and geometric abstraction to explore the continuity between ecology, infrastructure, and architecture. Working across the disciplines of painting, sculpture and architecture, Dyson deconstructs, distills, and interrogates the built environment, exploring how individuals, particularly black and brown people, negotiate, negate, and transform systems and spatial order. Throughout her work and research, Dyson confronts issues of environmental liberation and envisions a path toward a more equitable future.