IC Interview: Amina Daugherty — Idea Capital Atlanta

Emerging artist Amina Daugherty aims to represent the disconnect between African and African American people in her artistic practice. This 2020 Idea Capital Grant winner is a recent graduate of GSU, and the first in her family to earn a fine arts degree.

Idea Capital shares some insights from this passionate young creative in a recent interview:
Where were you born?
Atlanta, GA
As an artist, do you think you work is political?
Yes, very much so. Black people were and still are in some cases excluded from gallery spaces, so just having Black art in a gallery is political. On top of that, my subject matter highlights issues and stories that many would prefer to be swept under the rug. In a country that is eliminating Critical Race Theory in schools, rewriting history, and killing black folks in the broad daylight I would say my artwork is extremely political and hope for it to become even more impactful in that way.
What do you feel you are trying to communicate with your work?
I am trying to communicate a layer of emotion that is not often seen or experienced by people outside of the African American community. We have these unspoken emotional experiences that aren’t understood by others and that we can’t really put into words, so I try to capture that within my work. I also want to show that we have remarkably intrinsic ways in which we still connect ourselves to our past through our culture despite not always knowing much about our ancestry.
Who are your influences?
Kara Walker and Cristina Cordova are two of my favorite artists of all time. It was their work that made me start embracing my own culture through my artwork. I also am influenced by Virgil Abloh, Rihanna, and Basquiat. These are people that are always ahead of the game in art and fashion. Their work and style pushes boundaries and it encourages me to always be forward thinking in my approach to art and sculpture. I am also heavily influenced by the style of African sculpture and masks. That influences the style of everything I make.
What is the connection between protest and art-making?
Art heavily influences society whether its music, film, sculpture, painting, or even spray painting a confederate monument. I believe that artists are some of the biggest catalysts for change. People have strong emotional reactions to art. Reactions that can make them see something differently, change their thought process, or question the world around them. And outside of galleries, you can look at actual protests. Buttons, signs, shirts, costumes, and chants. All these things are different forms of art being used to communicate a strong message. Every artform has the power to change society.
What do you like most about the art that you make?
I feel like my art has an element of fantasy that comes about through my merging African history and tradition with current Black culture to create connections. Since there are gaps within our history as African Americans, I get to take some degree of artistic license with certain design elements because I always have the space to ask, “what if?” since there isn’t always a clear answer to the questions Black people have about their ancestry.
What are you working on currently?
I am currently working on my SUNDER/SUTURE project with Idea Capital that will become my first solo show. I also have gotten back into painting. I am having fun experimenting with bringing my ideas into a 2-D space.
Amina is currently working on her first solo exhibition funded by her Idea Capital Grant. Please consider making a donation to our fundraising campaign so that we may continue to fund talented Atlanta artists like Amina Daugherty.