For Immediate Release Press Contact: Samantha Kessler, [email protected], 646.505.4493 Leanne Stella, [email protected], 917.273.4405 “Songs of Freedom” JCC Harlem presents a second Art in Flux exhibition in its community space HARLEM, NY (August 30, 2017) – Songs of Freedom, a show of two and three-dimensional mixed media artworks, video, photography and performance by 10 artists (nine women and one man–a self-proclaimed feminist) opens at the JCC Harlem on Wednesday, September 13. Art In FLUX curators, Leanne Stella and Henone Girma, brought together a group of artists that each use their own experiences and observations to address notions of femininity and female empowerment. "We are ecstatic to be continuing our partnership with Art in Flux to launch a second exhibition at JCC Harlem,” said Meg Sullivan Director of Programs and Community Engagement at JCC Harlem. “And in particular one that elevates women/feminist artists and is sure to encourage conversation about issues that are deeply important to us all." The use of repurposed materials, fabric in Tomo Mori’s Our Little People and wire hangers in Autumn Kioti’s Red Hen (impossible standard) and the painstaking handiwork in each speaks to the resilience and resourcefulness women require to navigate the “modern” world. Our Little People represents the interconnected female bonds that protect voiceless and vulnerable children while the Red Hen performance and installation piece makes a grim yet humorous reference to the expectations surrounding 21st Century womanhood. Lital Dotan’s Transformation on Rockhill (video) and Qinza Najm’s Stretched (mixed media) both depict in their own way how women stretch themselves beyond external limitations and preconceived standards to survive and ultimately flourish. Rejin Leys and Leslie Jimenez paint in a performative piece that can only be completed when they unite in the center. The photographic diptych, Female Empowerment and Blue Building by Ruben Natal-San Miguel shouts shattering the glass ceiling. Hirut Yosef, Tara Sabharwal and Sara Jimenez present a combination of figurative and architectural two- dimensional works that also speak to societal structures surrounding women. The artists collectively weave a story about the challenges women and girls face and the individual and communal strength it takes to stretch beyond clear and abstract restraints. All of the works in Songs Of Freedom are by women in a world where the constant need to protect, nurture, succeed, excel and fight (for gender parity) all co-exist. Exhibition: Songs of Freedom Artists: Autumn Kioti, Hirut Yosef, Leslie Jiménez, Lital Dotan, Qinza Najm, Rejin Leys, Ruben Natal-San Miguel, Sara Jimenez, Tara Sabharwal and Tomo Mori Co-Curators: Leanne Stella and Henone Girma Opening Reception: Wednesday, September 13, 2017, 6:30-9:00 PM Exhibition Dates: September 13 through April 2018 Hours: MON, TUES & FRI 9:00am-6:00pm, WED & THURS 9:00am-9:00pm, SUN 9:00am-5:00pm Location: JCC Harlem, 318 West 118th St, between Frederick Douglass Blvd & Manhattan Avenue, NY 10026 Transportation: C, 2 and 3 trains to 116th Street / M7 or Crosstown M116 to Frederick Douglass Blvd & 116 More Information: www.artinfluxharlem.com, [email protected] Images: 1. Our Little People # 1, Tomo Mori, 2017, 24w x 40h x 24d, recycled fabric and shoes. If you are interested in interviews or photography, please contact Samantha Kessler, [email protected], office: 646.505.4493. # # # About Art in FLUX: Art In FLUX creates opportunities for artists by reclaiming underutilized and unique spaces for art. Since its launch in 2012 as an uptown arts initiative, Art in FLUX has popped up in vacant retail spaces, parks, lobbies, and street corners. In 2015 FLUX expanded to include the FLUX Art Fair and Public Art Projects. By merging artistic, commercial, and community interests, FLUX supports greater accessibility to the arts, connects art patrons with uptown artists, and promotes diversity and inclusivity in the arts. About JCC Harlem Located at 318 West 118th Street, JCC Harlem is a brand-new community space initiative brought to you by JCC Manhattan, in collaboration with UJA-Federation of New York. In our 6,000-square-foot space, we seek to create a hub of Jewish life for Harlem's growing and vibrant Jewish community, hosting holiday celebrations as well as weekly, monthly, and one-time programming for people of all ages and from all walks of life. There will be an exciting array of programming including morning meditation, yoga and MELT Method, family Shabbat and Friday night dinners, Shabbat afternoon programs, Ulpan and adult education, afterschool programs, community engagement through service learning, 20s + 30s events, co-presented ritual events, and birthday parties. About the Artists Autumn Kioti is an interdisciplinary artist and scavenger who combines improvisational movement, aerial arts, choreography, narrative, installation, sound and visual arts, activism and social justice. Finding value in society's discards, she builds masks, puppets, installations and environments. She marries a subconscious narrative with mythic and folk impulses, scavenging bits of everything from history and literature, science and mathematics, to David Attenborough animal documentaries, in the creation of ritual-inspired participatory performances centered on intuitive movement and pure emotion. Select performance/installations include: whisper to me…, ITINERANT Performance Art Festival, Queens Museum, NYC; WHISPERING VOICES, Last Frontier NYC; segment I [in respect for food], Spazio MATTA, Italy; AESCULAPIAN HARVEST [in respect for food], site-specific, Chimayo, New Mexico; BECOMING THEM: a fantasy narrative on our relationship to our tech devices, Gallery Aferro, New Jersey; RUN:rabbit, Dixon Place, NYC; IDEAS IN THE AIR, a conversation with Fritjov Capra, Last Frontier NYC. Artist residencies include: NYC Audubon Society on Governors Island, NYC, NOoSphere Arts, NYC, Santa Fe Art Institute (FOOD JUSTICE residency), Art Monastery Italia, Abruzzo region, Italy. Hirut Yosef is an Illustrator, Fashion Designer and Graphic Artist from Israel. She was born in the city of Gonder in Ethiopia in 1979. Her family immigrated to Israel in 1984 hoping for a better future. In 2005 she graduated from Shenkar College of Engineering and Design with a B.A in Fashion Design. Determined to follow her dreams and passion she moved to Istanbul. While there, she started working on a series of colorful illustrations, which she named Mulu and The Beta Clan. Hirut draws her inspiration from various sources and life experiences. Some of her biggest inspirations would be her Ethiopian mother and grandmother, her African roots and her lifetime love for street art and old school American hip-hop and soul culture. Her work has been shown In Istanbul-Turkey, ATL-usa and New York. Leslie JiméneZ Leslie Jiménez is a Dominican multi-disciplinary artist, illustrator, and museum educator. Based in NY where she works and lives with her husband, daughter and two blood parrot fish. Ms. Jiménez believes in the power of representation from a social justice standpoint. In her work, she explores a wide range of subjects, such as internalized racism and the complexity of formulated identities, the power of choice and its relation to mental and personal health. She aims at questioning narratives of established ideas about beauty, personal relationships, girlhood, womanhood, and motherhood and the constraints of social standards of female behavior. Leslie Jiménez graduated from the prestigious Altos de Chavón School of Design, in the Dominican Republic. She was awarded a full scholarship and graduated with honors from Parsons The New School for Design in New York City. Leslie's work has been exhibited in galleries in NYC, Washington DC, Barbados, Santo Domingo, SCOPE Contemporary Art Fair NY, and New York Presbyterian - The Allen Hospital. Other venues include PBS, and online magazine Mashable. Jiménez has been invited to talk about her work at El Museo del Barrio, CNN en Español, Rutgers University, City College, Art In FLUX and Parsons The New School. Lital Dotan is an immersive artist and playwright working with performance, video and installation art; her works are dedicated to creating independent environments for sustainable performance practice, presentation and preservation. She is the co-founder and artistic director of Glasshouse ArtLifeLab, an art- house currently based in Brooklyn. Co-founded with Eyal Perry in 2007, Glasshouse is a platform dedicated to performance in the domestic sphere, where she organizes and produces festivals, exhibitions, thematic performances, collaborations and residencies, which nourish artists and audiences across generations and disciplines. In 2015 Dotan founded Que sal mah, a bespoke dressmaking studio that merges performance art, choreography and fashion design, where clients book a one-to-one performance session culminating in a dress. The following year she premiered an immersive dinner performance series called A Folded Storm. Her immersive art works and performances have been exhibited in museum and galleries world- wide such as the Israel Museum, National Museum Cracow, Queens Museum, Haifa Museum, Jewish Contemporary SF to name a few and was featured in magazines such as DNA Info, NY Mag, Paper Mag, ArtSlant, Haaretz, Huffington Post, VISION China, TAR Magazine and many more. Since early in her artistic career, she has collaborated with photographer Eyal Perry who is responsible for the photography in the majority of her work. QinZa Najm is a Pakistani-American artist whose work has been selected for many national and international juried exhibitions. Currently Najm's large-scale work is held in several prestigious public and private art collections. She has exhibited at Dubai's Christie’s Art, Miami Art Basel, Sikka Art Dubai, Dumbo Art Fair, Governors Island Art Fair, and Times Square. Najm’s large scale hanging installation will be open to public in February 2016 for three years at Children’s Museum of Manhattan. Najm completed her psychology Ph.D. in the United States, which enables her to explore her subconscious and bring it onto the canvas.