Suturing material history and contemporary art practice—archival and curatorial experience—Rivers works in partnership with Amistad Research Center to advance contemporary art and thought that makes a study of history. We invite artists from around the world for extended research and study in the city of New Orleans and in Amistad’s archive, housing original materials that reference the social and cultural importance of America’s ethnic and racial history, the African Diaspora, and global human relation and civil rights. Currently the archive holds more than 800 manuscript and archival collections, comprised of 15 million+ documents and 250,000 photographs; a library comprised of more than 30,000 books and periodicals; and over 800 works of art. Resident Research Artists gain the support of a dedicated archivist, Amistad’s team of research librarians and Rivers’ curatorial staff to support the development of new work, publications, and exhibitions that center diasporic experiences—and a complex understanding of long-rootedness.
We are proud to welcome artists Helen Cammock, Alia Farid, Imani Jacqueline Brown, and Leyla McCalla to New Orleans across 2023 and 2024.
