En Foco is proud to announce the opening of In-Between: The 2018 En Foco Photohgraphy Fellowship Exhibition, and the launch of the 2018 Fellowship Edition of Nueva Luz on June 6th, 2018 from 6-8pm at the Andrew Freedman Home, featuring a performance by BombaYo, a Bronx-based performance organization that uses the legacy of Bomba music to engage the community. The ten Fellowship winners were selected from a pool of 162 applicants. The Fellowship initiative not only affirms En Foco’s ongoing commitment to the financial support of artists of color, it also serves to inform exhibition organizers and curators of an existing pool of vastly under recognized artists. Layza Garcia, En Foco’s Director of Programs, states that “we are very excited by this new round of Fellowship recipients.” Further she adds, ” each artist is aesthetically different but yet, they complement each other as the public will view in the upcoming exhibition, a very exciting experience.”

En Foco’s 2018 Photography Fellowship winners are Alexis Ruiseco, Antonio Pulgarin, Gioncarlo Valentine, Hidemi Takagi, Jonathan Gardenhire, Laylah Amatullah Barrayn, Mark Aghatise, Rhynna Santos, Tau Battice, and Yu-Chen Chiu. The Fellowship winners selected are based exclusively on the excellence and quality of the work submitted. All work is reviewed by panelists who are all distinguished members of the arts community: Joanna E. Castro, Executive Director of Northern Manhattan Arts Alliance; Laura James, Bronx artist and illustrator; and Ayesha Akhtar, Community Engagement and Marketing Associate of the Bronx Museum of the Arts. Eva Mayhabal Davis, Gallery and Studio Program Manager of Smack Mellon, will curate this year’s Fellowship exhibition and the special issue of Nueva Luz. Eva says that she hopes “to create a bridge between the viewer and the artwork.” She also comments “seeing these powerful images impacts how I continue to exist in my surroundings.”

About BombaYo: BombaYo ignites the ancestral rhythms of Bomba, an African derived music and dance tradition developed in Puerto Rico. The synergy of call and response singing, drumming and dance provide the foundation for a dynamic interplay between the solo drummer and dancer. In the spirit of Sankofa -looking to your past for better future- BombaYo members draw from the bomba tradition to enrich their lives and embrace their cultural legacy. Through workshops, cultural presentations, performances and partnerships, BombaYo engages communities throughout NYC area to raise awareness of Afro Puerto Rican culture and to connect Bomba to the vast traditions of the African Diaspora. BombaYo creates an intergenerational and participatory experience that honors people of all ages and abilities. BombaYo stirs the soul in a way that only music and dance can to uplift and celebrate our deeper humanity. For more information please visit http://www.bombayo.org.