2023 MA Alum, Tiffany Gaines, Article Series in Hyperallergic Magazine

One of the most inspiring parts of living and working in Buffalo is continuously learning about its robust African-American history. Buffalo was once a refuge for formerly enslaved African Americans searching for freedom. This prompted a migration of folks who would go on to establish churches, restaurants, businesses, cultural institutions, and myriad other places that made the East Side a bustling, predominantly Black neighborhood. The realities of urban decay severely and disproportionately affected these areas and the sustainability of Black spaces over time. Recording these stories through art and culture ensures that they are commemorated, built upon, and remembered for generations to come.

Organizations like the Langston Hughes Center, African American Cultural Center, Colored Musicians Club, Black Dance Workshop, and Ujima Company, among so many others, set a blueprint for art as a community practice. Contemporary artists continue to honor these pasts through their work and cultivating new ways to connect with communities. No one exemplifies this more than Edreys and Alexa Joan Wajed, founders of Eat Off Art. A husband-and-wife team, the Wajeds promote engagement and accessibility through arts-related initiatives and services. As multidisciplinary artists, they embody art as an agent of change.

Edreys, [a UB MFA 2022 Alum] is an accomplished multidisciplinary artist whose practice spans visual art, music, public art, and jewelry design. Alexa is a highly regarded chef, jewelry designer, and entrepreneur. Their respective practices epitomize creativity as a continuous flow across mediums, citing the importance of Black-led creative spaces in developing their artistic identities and seeing themselves in art. Their business ethos is similar to that of the Langston Hughes Center — that art can be an approachable avenue of freedom and a viable professional career.

Part of a lineage of craftsmen, artists, and thinkers, the Wajeds are building a multigenerational legacy by nurturing the artistic spirits of their two sons. They are also generating opportunities for residents to experiment with their own creativity. Most recently, they’ve launched free programs in their studio. The New Masters: Healing Buffalo Through the Arts is a series of collaborative workshops led by local artists that empower participants to explore self-expression as a healing practice, particularly for Black communities affected by the May 14 Tops tragedy.

Continue reading this article at: https://hyperallergic.com/876463/seeing-ourselves-and-each-other-in-buffalo-black-arts-scene/

This is part of the 2023/24 Emily Hall Tremaine Journalism Fellowship for Curators and the second of three posts by the author, the third of which will be an online exhibition published on Hyperallergic and sent to all newsletter subscribers.