Denzil Forrester, Suchitra Mattai and Zinzi Minott in conversation with Carla Acevedo-Yates on the occasion of 'Reverb' 5-6pm (Online)

Artists Denzil Forrester, Suchitra Mattai and Zinzi Minott join MCA Chicago Curator Carla Acevedo-Yates for an online discussion about their participation in Reverb at Stephen Friedman Gallery, London. The online panel will discuss the significance of contemporary art from the Caribbean diaspora.

Register to join the online talk, here.

Denzil Forrester (b. 1956 in Grenada, he moved to London in 1967 and now lives and works in Cornwall, UK)

Denzil Forrester's vibrant works immortalise the dynamic energy of the London reggae and dub nightclub scene during the early 1980s, a subject that has endured throughout four decades of his practice. Reverb coincides with a solo major exhibition by Forrester at Stephen Friedman Gallery and Andrew Kreps Gallery in New York. His work is currently exhibited in the National Portrait Gallery, London touring group show The Time is Always Now: Artists Reframe the Black Figure at Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Significant solo exhibitions opened at Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, Missouri and Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami, Florida in 2023. Forrester’s works can be found in the collections of Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami, Florida; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Tate, UK; Arts Council Collection, UK; Government Art Collection, UK and Long Museum, Shanghai, amongst many others. 

Suchitra Mattai (b. 1973 in Guyana, South America and now lives and works in Denver, Colorado, USA)

Intertwining vibrant textiles, found objects and beads, multidisciplinary artist Suchitra Mattai explores how memory allows us to untangle and weave together historical narratives. Recent institutional solo exhibitions include she walked in reverse and found their songs, ICA San Francisco, San Francisco (2024) and Myth from Matter, National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington D.C. (2024). Her work is held in significant public collections including: Crystal Bridges Museum of Art, Bentonville, Arkansas; Crocker Museum of Art, Sacramento; Denver Art Museum, Denver, Colorado; Kiran Nader Museum of Art, Delhi, India; Joslyn Museum of Art, Omaha, Nebraska; Portland Museum of Art, Portland, Maine; Tampa Art Museum, Tampa; Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, Santa Fe and Nasher; Museum of Art, Durham, North Carolina.

Zinzi Minott (b. 1986 in Manchester and in 1992 moved to London, UK, where she still lives and works)

Zinzi Minott’s work focuses on the relationship between dance, bodies and politics, specifically through the lens of race, queer culture, gender and class. Minott is Trinity Laban Conservatoire alumni and was the first artist trained in dance to be an artist in residence at both Serpentine Gallery, London, UK (2018) and Tate, London, UK (2017). Recent solo exhibitions, screenings and performances include those at Queercircle, London, UK (2023); Transmission Glasgow, Glasgow, UK (2022); BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead, UK (2022); Spike Island, Bristol, UK (2020); Transmission Glasgow, Glasgow, UK (2020) and Kunsthall Stavanger, Stavanger, Norway (2019). Her work BLOODSOUND currently features in the group exhibition ‘Conversations’ at Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, UK.

Carla Acevedo-Yates

Carla Acevedo-Yates is the Marilyn and Larry Fields Curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago. She has curated over thirty exhibitions, including solo presentations on the work of David Lamelas, Johanna Unzueta, Claudia Peña Salinas, Duane Linklater, Beatriz Santiago Muñoz, and Carolina Caycedo. In 2015, she was awarded a Creative Capital | Andy Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Grant for an article on Cuban painter Zilia Sánchez. Recently, she curated the group exhibition Forecast Form: Art in the Caribbean Diaspora, 1990s-Today which initially opened at the MCA Chicago and travelled to ICA Boston and MCA San Diego, as well as entre horizontes: Art and Activism Between Chicago and Puerto Rico. She is the inaugural recipient of the CCS Bard Alumni Award, which recognises an outstanding graduate of the Center for Curatorial Studies for sustained innovation and engagement in exhibition-making, public education, research, and a commitment to the field.