“Digital Breath” Artist Talk

Join us for the second of two conversations with the participating artists in the current exhibition Digital Breath: Video and Sound Art in the Age of Global Connectivity, guest curated by multimedia artist Brian C. O’Malley.

Annu Palakunnathu Matthew, John Devault, Lauren Mantecón, and Joseph Fortune will join Brian to discuss their individual explorations of the theme “breath” during this other-worldly time of the pandemic.  Through this lens, each Digital Breath artist has created a compelling and thought provoking response that asks us to consider human connection, and disconnection.

Talk will be delivered Live on Zoom, and link will be sent directly to registrants on the day before the talk.

Annu Palakunnathu Matthew
Annu Palakunnathu Matthew‘s photo-based work mines issues of immigration and inter-generational memory. Matthew’s exhibitions include the Royal Ontario Museum, Nuit Blanche Toronto, RISD Museum, MFA Boston, Victoria & Albert Museum as well as at the Smithsonian. Annu Palakunnathu Matthew is Professor of Art at the University of Rhode Island and is represented by sepiaEYE, NYC. www.annumatthew.com

Lauren Mantecón
Lauren Mantecón, American abstract painter, grew up moving between the east and west coasts, negotiating the terrain of identity and place in the middle. Mantecón work has been featured since 1990 in solo and group exhibitions in museums and galleries throughout the USA and internationally. She currently lives in SAnta Fe, NM.

Joseph Fortune
Joseph Fortune studied film and photography at Columbia College Chicago.  He is musician, song writer, composer, sound artist and activist.  He has performed as a solo artist and in multiple bands including experimental noise rock band TXOKA TXOKA.  He contributes soundscapes, foley and music to the films of Brian C O’Malley and others.  He lives in Providence, Rhode Island where he is from.

John Devault
John Devault has been a musician and filmmaker for over 40 years. He was a founding member of the psychedelic rock band Plan 9(2017 Rhode Island Music Hall Of Fame inductee). He has created a variety of films including narrative, music video, and experimental. They have been shown nationally and internationally.

Brian C. O’Malley, Guest Curator
Brian C. O’Malley is a multimedia artist who lives and works in Greenville, RI. Brian has shown his short films in Greece, Russia, Chile, Canada, Switzerland, France, Venezuela, Uruguay, and all over the United States. In 2016 Brian received a Fellowship in Film & Video from the Rhode Island State Council for the Arts. He has also received fellowships to attend  artist residencies at Ragdale Foundation, Brush Creek Foundation, Playa, and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. Brian is the curator of RIIA shorts 2020 (Rhode Island Independent Animators), a series of live screenings of short animated films, shown around the state of Rhode Island.  The screenings started at the Jamestown Arts Center in February of 2020, but was unfortunately cut short in March because of the Covid Pandemic. Brian hopes to resume screenings of RIIA shorts in 2021.