We Make Our Own Light
Look into the lens of Alisa Sikelianos-Carter’s Africosmos of Black hair.
Moonlight (Detail Shot) | Image Courtesy of Purple PR and Superposition Gallery
There are a few signs that mark the arrival of spring in New York. The flowers in the park start blooming, the trees return to their rich, verdant glory, and the first weekend in May hosts nearly every art fair. Out of the roughly ten fairs running concurrently, I always catch the one presented by the New Art Dealers Alliance, also known as NADA. One of the reasons why I enjoy perusing the booths at NADA each year is seeing numerous emerging artists illuminate Chelsea with their paintings, sculptures, photographs, and mixed media works. Not only is the fair well-curated with exciting talent, but NADA’s mission is to make contemporary art more accessible to the general public while working collaboratively with artists and galleries to gain wider recognition for their works.
One of the exhibits housed in the NADA Project space was Superposition Gallery’s solo booth presentation titled We Make Our Own Light, marking Alisa Sikelianos-Carter’s debut participation at NADA New York 2024 and commencing her exhibition at the gallery’s location at 548 W. 22nd Street, New York, NY that was on view during Art Week in early May. In We Make Our Own Light, Sikelianos-Carter’s multidimensional collages honor both the inner potential that ignites the spirit.
This body of work is a continuation of her Africosmos series, where she fashioned printed images of hairstyles, including braids, dreadlocks, and twists into abstracted starbursts carefully embellished with glitter to highlight their otherworldly brilliance. For We Make Our Own Light, Sikelianos-Carter was drawn to concepts regarding human bioluminescence and the physical relationship between the body and the cosmos.
Image Courtesy of Purple PR and Superposition Gallery
“I’m inspired by fractals, mycelium, constellations, geology, landforms, topography, and the moon. I think about what it would look like to embody different plants, elemental and planetary forms,” she says, “My work is informed by the experience of darkness and the color Black as a way to connect to intuition, internal landscapes, and spirit. Specifically, I want to experiment with both the saturation and the complete absence of light and consider how that connects us or cuts us off from ourselves and, in that, the divine.”
These new works are studies in “luminosity and restrained maximalism” that interpret the ephemeral connections to the natural world through prismatic shields that are both unique to their protectee and responsive to those looking for their place among the stars. I asked Sikelianos-Carter about how her references guide your process in crafting this series. She notes, “The concept that we have this ability to be seen even in total darkness is really powerful for me. While the amount of light we emit is minuscule, I still find it beautiful that we have this desire to shine and be known. That idea, along with the knowledge of our bodies being made from stardust older than Earth, is something I go back to a lot when I’m feeling disconnected from the universe. I was thinking about these connections and wanting to embody these qualities of infinitude and luminosity.”
The titles of each piece, such as Aurora, Vespers, Moonlight, and Midnight, reflect the light that illuminates our days. One of the standout pieces is Helios, also featured in her recent solo exhibition at the San Luis Obispo Museum of Art in California titled In Space and Splendor: A Topography of Wildness. For Helios, Sikelianos-Carter used a single image to build a radiating solar flare that references the “inherent infinitude of the cosmos in its expression.”
Image Courtesy of Purple PR and Superposition Gallery
For NADA, Superposition founder, artist, and curator Storm Ascher says, “Alisa has a multidisciplinary art practice and a multinational family background, which is at the root of Superposition’s programming and mission statement.” She continues, “From over the years of working with Alisa, we have respect for her ability to create aesthetically pleasing yet contemplative works which are an homage to the proverbial light within darkness that evokes spirituality for Black women- through hairstyles rendered in a fractal and universal cove she created for the viewer under layers of refractive glitter. “We Make Our Own Light was the perfect messaging for our first NADA presentation and her first solo booth.”
Superposition Gallery was founded in 2018 by Ascher to subvert gentrification tactics often used in urban development through art galleries. Focusing on curatorial thought while creating a community for nomadic artists and residents, they aim to highlight young emerging and mid-career artists globally and foster relationships with curators and institutions.
Superposition will open a group exhibition titled Saturn Gives Structure to the Dream at 52 Walker in Tribeca from June 7 to June 17.
