(virtual) Art in Dialogue: cameron clayborn with Denny Mwaura

Join artist cameron clayborn and writer Denny Mwaura for a conversation on the erotics and spiritual forces evoked in clayborn's sculpture, drawing, and performance practice. Through the artist's use of material choices, ranging from popcorn ceiling paint, vinyl, to spandex, clayborn weaves personal narrative, queer embodiment, and the visual and spiritual traditions of nkisi n'kondi.

The artist's work is included in the Lumpkin-Boccuzzi Family Collection of Contemporary Art. A selection of the collection is currently on view in the exhbiiton Young, Gifted and Black. 

Art in Dialogue is a series of interdisciplinary conversations between members of the university and the wider community - reflecting the ways in which their work is dynamically engaged with other fields of inquiry.

a father (exposed to light) #3, 2021 by cameron clayborn

cameron clayborn. a father (exposed to light) #3, 2021. Colored pencil and watercolor on paper. 20” x 38”

cameron clayborn was born 1992 in Pine Bluff, AR and raised in Memphis, TN. They are a multi-disciplinary artist whose practice combines elements of abstraction, craft, and spirituality. clayborn’s work draws from deeply personal experiences and sees their work as a tool for healing. Solo exhibitions include: Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin, Germany (2022, forthcoming); Art Basel Statements, with Simone Subal Gallery, Basel, Switzerland (2021) where Clayborn was awarded the Baloise Art Prize; Through the Wrong Tongue, Simone Subal Gallery, New York, NY (2019); and Bawdy, Boyfriends, Chicago, IL (2017). Recent group exhibitions include: Hand to your ear, curated by Gabriella Nugent, Emalin, London, UK (2022), (forthcoming) Entrainment, Someday Gallery, New York, NY (2021); Soft Allergy: Claire Ashley, Judith Brotman, Cameron Clayborn, Glass Curtain Gallery, Chicago, IL (2021); Good to know, Bradley Ertaskiran, Montréal, Québec (2021); and Tense Conditions: A Presentation of the Contemporary Art Collection, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, Stuttgart, Germany (2021). For more information visit: https://camclay.com/

Denis Mutungi Mwaura is an artist-art historian, curator, and writer whose practice focuses on public art, photography, and time-based media. Grounded in chronicling migrancy through language, landscapes, and portraiture, Mwaura's photographic practice explores intimate communal bonds and the seen and unseen histories of blackness. Exhibitions and public programs his curatorial research has supported include Young, Gifted and Black: The Lumpkin-Boccuzzi Family Collection of Contemporary Art (2020) at Gallery 400; Malangatana: Mozambique Modern (2020), Naughty Nymphs in the Courtyard of the Favorites (2022), and Igshaan Adams: Desire Lines (2022) at the Art Institute of Chicago; Wong Ping: Digital Fables (2021) and Madeleine Hunt-Ehrlich: Speculative Archives (2021) at Conversations at the Edge. His writings on artists including Kapwani Kiwanga, Daniela Rivera, and Senzeni Marasela appear in the Boston Art Review and Africanah. Recently, Mwaura is the 2021 recipient of the Schiff Foundation Fellowship for Critical Architectural Writing, an award granted by the Department of Architecture and Design at the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Public Programs Manager at Gallery 400, UIC. He received his MA in Modern and Contemporary Art History from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. For more information visit: https://denismutungi.com/