ONLINE: Rita Mawuena Benissan, Conley Clark

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courtesy the artist

A photo from "Mo Apiafo," a 2021 ALL Prize exhibit by Rita Mawuena Benissan.

Arts + Literature Laboratory focuses on the recipients of the 2021 ALL Prize, awarded to graduating master of fine arts degree candidates at UW-Madison; this year's recipients are Rita Mawuena Benissan and Conley Clark. The exhibitions will be on view at ALL through May 1; on April 1, Benissan and Clark discuss their work on Facebook Live. Benissan is a narrative photographer who works with other media (painting, printmaking, textiles) to explore her Black and Ghanian American heritage. Clark is a multimedia artist interpreting culture through a queer perspective, questioning especially gender-conformity The gallery is open noon-5 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, or by appointment.

Artist talks 5 pm, 4/1, on Facebook.

media release: Arts + Literature Laboratory (ALL) is proud to announce the opening of two exhibitions by the recipients of the 2021 ALL Prize, awarded each year to outstanding graduating MFA students from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. This year’s prize winners are Rita Mawuena Benissan and Conley Clark. The exhibitions will be on view at ALL from March 11 to May 1, 2021.

Rita Mawuena Benissan: Mo Apiafo is a photography and installation exhibition that explores aspects of the artist’s Ghanian-American background. Using narrative photography, Benissan utilizes imagery taken in Ghana to reinterpret the royal umbrella, a symbol of hierarchy and chieftancy in the country. The umbrellas are used to protect and shade the King, Chiefs, and Queenmothers. Benissan contradicts the monarchy and colonialist ideology the umbrellas stand for by using what she terms her “Black Aesthetic.” Benissan stages her umbrellas alongside images of everyday working people, reclaiming the power associated with the symbol.

Conley Clark: Home Sweet Home is a multimedia installation that draws upon the artist’s personal experiences to question the unspoken suppositions and expectations of gender-conformity within a society. Considering its underlying tensions and fraught history, Clark combines plaster casts, AstroTurf, video, sound, and various found objects to embellish the landscape of the suburbs with queerly-coded visuals. In this way, prevalent imaginaries of stereotypical suburban life are disrupted by an uncanny representation of the same thing.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this presentation of artwork in ALL’s new galleries will be available to view during limited hours from 12-5pm Thursday through Saturday or by appointment. Visitors inside the building will be required to wear masks and practice social distancing, and the number of visitors will be limited according to current public health guidelines. Exhibition admission is free. Please visit ALL’s website (artlitlab.org) or Facebook page (facebook.com/artlitlab) to learn about other upcoming programs and events, including virtual artists talks with the ALL Prize recipients.