Vielmetter Los Angeles invites guests to join Genevieve Gaignard and Mara Brock Akil on the occasion of Gaignard’s solo exhibition Thinking Out Loud for a conversation around storytelling and artistic practice.
As an interdisciplinary artist, Genevieve Gaignard investigates personal histories, popular culture, and racial currents through her lens as a biracial woman navigating unsettling American realities. Each of the mediums Gaignard works with is a conduit for introspection. Her photographs are staged self-portraits presenting a spectrum of invented yet recognizable “selves,” which undermine social hierarchies and beauty standards. Vintage wallpaper is a motif throughout her collage, sculpture, and installation work. The scope of her work is an ensemble of visual renderings that affirm Black livelihood and provoke reflection on the often hostile realities of the outside world. Gaignard is a graduate of the Yale School of Art and her work has been shown nationally and internationally. She is represented by Vielmetter in Los Angeles. Her work was recently included in the touring exhibition Multiplicity: Blackness in Contemporary American Collage, which debuted at The Frist Museum in Nashville, TN and traveled to The Museum of Fine Arts Houston, TX and The Phillips Collection, DC. Recent solo exhibitions include To Whom it May Concern, Rowan University Art Gallery, Glassboro, NJ; Genevieve Gaignard, This is America: The Unsettling Contradictions in American Identity, Atlanta Contemporary, Atlanta, GA; Bloom Projects: Genevieve Gaignard, Outside Looking In, Museum of Contemporary Art Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA (2020); I’m Sorry I Never Told You That You’re Beautiful, Vielmetter Los Angeles, CA (2019); Counterfeit Currency, FLAG Art Foundation, New York, NY (2018); Smell the Roses, California African American Museum, Los Angeles, CA (2016). Her work has been included in numerous group exhibitions at The ICA San Francisco, CA; The Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA; The Riverside Museum, Riverside, CA; The San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose, CA; The Blanton Museum of Art, Austin, TX; The Getty Center, Los Angeles, CA; The National Portrait Gallery, Washington, D.C.; Crystal Bridges Museum of Art, Bentonville, AR; Studio Museum in Harlem, NY; Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, North Adams, MA; Prospect.4, New Orleans. Genevieve Gaignard received her BFA in Photography from Massachusetts College of Art and Design, Boston, MA, and her MFA in Photography from Yale University, New Haven, CT.
Mara Brock Akil is a prolific writer and producer, credited with over 400 episodes of television, including the groundbreaking series Girlfriends, a cultural touchstone that redefined representation and resonated across generations. She also developed the successful spin-off The Game and the acclaimed drama Being Mary Jane, both of which solidified her reputation for telling authentic stories that resonate with diverse audiences. In addition to her numerous awards, including the Brandon Tartikoff Legacy Award, she founded the Writers’ Colony in 2021 to support emerging Black screenwriters and launched her digital magazine, InTheLandOfMara. As a catalyst for profound emotional connection in her narratives, Mara is dedicated to intertwining her life experiences with the art of storytelling, particularly in exploring the depths of human trauma.
