WORDS: SARAH JOSEPH
The celebratory intervention Homecoming takes over Alserkal Avenue from September to December 2021. Across both internal and external areas at Alserkal Avenue, home to a diverse community and a wide public audience, Homecoming activates cultural space as a source of comfort and wellbeing in these challenging times and recollects ourselves in the present moment.
An Artistic Interpretation The public realm interventions launched by Alserkal Arts Foundation are curated by Janine Gaëlle Dieudji, and will incorporate displays by artist Lakwena Maciver known for her bold use of colour 114 emirateswoman.com
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Janine Gaëlle Dieudji
Can you expand on how you started out in the art world and was curation always a passion? As a multilocal, I lived so many different lives in different places that led me to where I am today, but my initial path and academic background were not really designed to take me here. I studied Sociology, Political Science, then International Studies & Culture as I was fascinated with diplomacy and wanted to be one of these women in suits, but it never suited me. Although I already had some experience in the arts as an in intern in France and used to visit museums and art spaces such as Galerie du jour Agnès b., moving to Florence definitely played a huge role. Living and breathing in an open-air museum such as the city of Renaissance made me fully embrace my creativity, from the way I dress to how I started crafting my future. From visual arts, fashion to cinema, I had the privilege to interact and build relationships with so many creative minds who inspired me and still continue to do so. My experiences led me on to being an art studio manager, an independent art consultant, then Vice President and co-Director of the cultural association Black History Month Florence (BHMF), which I still am today, as well as Director of Exhibitions at the Museum of African Contemporary Art Al Maaden (MACAAL) in Marrakech since 2017.
F E AT U R E
9/30/21 2:00 PM
