BLESS THE BLOCK

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GET IT AND COME BACK

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BLESS THE BLOCK 〰️ GET IT AND COME BACK 〰️

360 view of Photo Exhibition and Installation

We are happy to present to you, Bless the Block / Get it and Come Back. A photographic exhibition, curated by Sheherazade Thenard. This showcase features Mariah Román and Kierra D. Branker; artists and the creative duo of Black Shell Studio. Street photography, portraiture, and still life are the type of works featured in this current showcase. Both artists work under similar themes of memory, communal care, and identity found within the visual, physical, and incorporeal expression of Black Diasporan Aesthetics.

MARIAH

ROMÁN

Street Photographer, Curator, Artist.

Mariah Roman (They, them) is an Afro-Latinx Caribbean artist and curator based in Orlando, Florida. Through their street photography, they aim to archive and spark conversations surrounding the changes within communities of color. Exploring historical landmarks, cultural staples, and the erasure over generations. This series features photographs of Overtown (Miami, Florida) Parramore (Orlando FL), and Chicago Illinois. Mariah Roman is also a public art curator and multi-disciplinary visual artist, with a focus on creating visual art experiences that are accessible to communities of color. They’ve most recently collaborated with local muralists to create murals that reflect and honor the communities of Eatonville and Parramore, in Orlando Florida. RISE: The Mural Project (2020) and Parramore: Mural Project (2022).

KIERRA

BRANKER:

Photographer, Illustrator, Installation Artist.

Kierra D. Branker (She/ They) is a Trinidadian-American lens-based artist based in Orlando, FL. Motivated by the cultural markers that help to formulate self-identity, her goal is to create works that reflect the shared heritage of the Caribbean diaspora. Get it and Come Back is an ongoing series using photographic practices to create portraits, by putting their focus on her friends and family of the Caribbean Diaspora. Together they constructed images in intimate spaces while creating work that parallels their own experience of the heritage of a distant home.