Smack Mellon is pleased to present Nsi nam mi ke ndi owo, a one-time performance and the final event to take place in conjunction with Victoria-Idongesit Udondian’s current exhibition, How Can I Be Nobody, on view through April 10, 2022. The performance’s title is the Efik (Nigerian language) translation of the exhibition’s title, relating acts of translation to visibility and bodily movement. For this performance, the artist has collaborated with choreographer and dancer Danion Lewis to activate her immersive installation, addressing the exhibition’s themes of migration, labor, and emancipation through visibility. The performance will also feature costumes designed by Udondian, an adaptation from the installation and movement by dancer Raven McRae.
Attendance for this performance will be on a first-come, first-serve basis, no pre-registration required. Please be aware of Smack Mellon’s updated COVID Courtesy Code prior to entry.
Danion Lewis is a Brooklyn native and first generation American by way of a Jamaican mother. He started his formal training at the age of 11 at Philippa Schuyler Middle School under the amazing guidance of Carol Lonnie. Danion then went on to John Dewey High School and studied under the late Michael Goring and Eleo Pomare. While in high school performing in the critically acclaimed “The Alba,” choreographed by Mr. Pomare, Lewis received his first review in the New York Times. He has been awarded scholarships to study at the Dance Theater of Harlem, Ballet Hispanic, The Graham School, The Ailey School. He went on to dance professionally with Jamel Gaines and Dance Africa, performing at Rockefeller Center, City Center, Central Park SummerStage, Mexico, and the Bahamas to name a few. He wants to give scholars, especially those from under privileged communities the same zest for the arts that his teachers gave him.
Raven McRae is an NYC based multifaceted artist. She is a proud alumni of LaGuardia Arts and her career highlights include Ballet Hispanico II, Motown (Broadway), Cirque du Soleil’s Paramour (Original Broadway cast) and Dream Laurey in the Denver Center for the Performing Arts (DCPA)’s all black production of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma, to name a few. Recently, Raven has utilized her assets on the creative team for upcoming Broadway and film productions. Raven attributes all of her success to God and is grateful for everyone who helped support her along her journey; specifically her mentor Janel Gains and her mother Sharlene McRae. Raven is grateful for the love and goodness that follows on her path.
Victoria-Idongesit Udondian’s work is driven by her interest in textiles and the potential for clothing to shape identity, informed by the histories and tacit meanings embedded in everyday materials. She creates interdisciplinary projects that question notions of cultural identity and post-colonial positions in relation to her experiences growing up in Nigeria. In 2020, Udondian was named a Guggenheim Fellow. Her works have been exhibited internationally, including The Inaugural Nigerian Pavilion at the 56th Venice Biennial-An Excerpt; Fisher Landau Center for the Arts, New York; The Bronx Museum, New York; The Children Museum of Manhattan, New York; The National Museum, Lagos and Lokoja, Nigeria; Whitworth Gallery in Manchester, Centre for Contemporary Arts, Lagos, Nigeria etc. Some of her Artist Residencies include Instituto Sacatar, Bahia, Brazil; Mass Moca, Massachusetts, USA; Fine Arts Work Center (FAWC), Provincetown; USA; Villa Straulli, Winthethur, Switzerland; Fondazione di Venezia, Venice, Italy; and Bag Factory Studios, Johannesburg, South Africa. Udondian is currently a Visiting Associate Professor at the University at Buffalo. She received an MFA in Sculpture and New Genres from Columbia University, New York, attended Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, and earned a BA in painting from the University of Uyo, Nigeria.
Image: Victoria-Idongesit Udondian, Mme Anam Utom, 2022. Used coats, epoxamite resin, dimensions variable. Installation view of How Can I Be Nobody, March 5 – April 10, 2022. Image courtesy of Smack Mellon. Photo: Etienne Frossard.