Jamal Nxedlana’s portrait of South African stylist Bee Diamondhead leaps off the wall in Aperture Gallery’s ‘Summer Open,’ offering a tantalizing glimpse of South Africa’s fashion elite. (On view in Chelsea through August 16th).
Fatoumata shows off a new braided hairstyle in this portrait by Burkina Faso photographer Sanle Sory, whose photo studio attracted the young and fashionable of Bobo-Dioulasso for decades after opening in 1960. In dozens of images taken from the 60s to the 80s, now on view at Yossi Milo Gallery in Chelsea, Sory captures the lively self-styling of the country’s youth post-independence, calling photography ‘a witness to everything, a kind of proof of life.’ (On view through June 23rd).
Cayce Zavaglia pushes realism into new territory in her stunningly deft embroidered portraits of friends and family. Long stitches become smooth lengths of hair while tiny dense ones create the interplay of light and color on skin. Here, Hudson’s youthful face and textured plaid shirt stand out against an electric, lime-colored background. (On view in Chelsea at Lyons Wier Gallery through June 2nd).
Rock climbers at sunset, a windswept beach and a wildly colored tropical lagoon are literally on the mind of this character by Erik Parker at Mary Boone Gallery. Experienced or received notions of the world literally construct identity in this psychedelic portrait. (On view in Chelsea through April 21st).
Arcmanoro Niles’ portraits – set in the Washington DC neighborhood where he grew up – feature not only their posed subjects but a host of secondary, ghoulish characters who the artist calls ‘seekers.’ Though this boy’s vibrant youth is made magical by his glittery hair, an odd creature wrapped around his feet could be setting the boy up for a fall. (On view at Rachel Uffner Gallery on the Lower East Side through Feb 25th).
