Art at Noon | William Villalongo on Where the Black Atlantic meets the Black Mediterranean

Like John Rhoden seventy years before, William Villalongo was awarded a fellowship at the American Academy in Rome in 2020. Here, Villalongo will detail this opportunity to live, research, and make work in Rome in 2021-22. The fellowship enabled him to create new works for his recent solo exhibition Black Menagerie at Susan Inglett Gallery, which tells a nuanced story about the Black presence in antiquity. Villalongo's research took him from map rooms, flea markets, fountains in Rome to southern Italy and the Giza pyramids in Egypt, to learn more about the Roman Empire's relationship to the African continent. Villalongo will share his revelations about the connections between trade and Black labor, which is visible in Roman mythology and the decorative grotesque, and prominent in Rome’s narrative. 

This is a free event open to the public. Advance registration is required. This is event is being held online. After registering, connection information will be emailed to you.

Image: William Villalongo, Sphinx, 2023 (DETAIL). Acrylic, velvet paper and collage on a wood panel. Courtesy of ©Villalongo Studio LLC 

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