The Zwirner gallery is featuring a benefit exhibition to support Thread, a non-profit artist collaboratory in Senegal. Lucus Zwirner ’13 is helping sponsor the exhibition which includes 28 works to provide funds for an endowment, ensuring Thread can operate for years to come. David Leiber ’86 serves as a partner with the gallery.
The gallery’s press release describes Thread‘s origins, “The Josef and Anni Albers Foundation initiated the project in an isolated part of sub-Saharan Africa to allow painters, dancers, photographers, and other artists from all over the world, as well as from within Senegal, to pursue their own work while also interacting with the local community.” Nicholas Fox Weber ’72 serves as Executive Director of the Josef and Anni Albers Foundation and has been instrumental in the project’s development. Nick Murphy ’13 serves as Director of Thread, developing its residency, educational, and special programs.
“Thread now provides agricultural training, and is home to an unprecedented cooperative of some 135 local women who grow and sell nutritious legumes and vegetables—thus eliminating, for the first time, hunger during the season of famine, while also providing income to its members. Thread has also become home to music and dance festivals, soccer tournaments, daily study halls, English classes, and village meetings. In addition, Thread, unlike other local spaces, offers a public gathering place for the female population of Sinthian, as well as teenagers from the surrounding area.”
Find more information about the exhibition and learn about Thread here.