The Armory Show

Booth N8 | Javits Center

September 6–8, 2024

NEW Print Edition & Textile Works by Stephanie Santana; including selections from the archives: Betye Saar, Dindga McCannon, Emma Amos and Mavis Pusey

NYTIMES REVIEW

For the Armory Show 2024, we are thrilled to showcase Stephanie Santana’s textile works, recently exhibited in her solo presentation, Ways of Knowing (April 19-July 20, 2024), at The Print Center in Philadelphia. We will also debut a new edition, As Above / So Below, printed by Master Printer Jazmine Catasús—a three-color lithograph enhanced with interference pigment flocking.

Rooted in the responsive encounter with archival material while employing a range of printmaking, quilting and embroidery techniques, Santana’s practice explores interior worlds, mythologies, and resistance strategies within the Black diaspora. Her practice spans both time and geography, driven by the intent to unearth valuable historical information and ancestral wisdom.

The title of Santana’s new print edition, As Above / So Below, refers to situating oneself within systems of knowledge across both material and spiritual worlds. Using textures from cheesecloth, a print studio material, along with photo collage and a hand-drawn cosmogram, the composition draws on Santana’s textile-based printmaking practice and developing body of work, “The Wayfinding Series” (2022-Present), which endeavors to visualize and understand what her Black matriarchal ancestors experienced and examine how their concerns and survival strategies hold continued relevance in the present day.

As she states, “‘The Wayfinding Series’ is about engaging in a process of filtering images through research, reading and intuitive art-making practices; bringing these elements together to create a dialogue between our past and present, to better understand how we divest from intergenerational systems of oppression and cultivate joy. The textile works are grounded in the history of narrative quiltmaking by Black women as a tool for self-discovery, record-keeping and maintaining personal agency.”

As a founding member of Black Women of Print, Santana honors the legacy of Black women printmakers, celebrating their contributions, centering intersectional narratives and ensuring their work remains visible and influential for future generations. 

Santana’s dedication to The Printmaking Workshop's history is evident in her selection of four pivotal artists from our Archives: Betye Saar, Dindga McCannon, Emma Amos, and Mavis Pusey. Despite being born decades apart, these artists collectively explore themes central to Black womanhood, spirituality, personal narratives, and material culture.

Conceived of and founded by artist and scholar Tanekeya Word in 2018, Black Women of Print is a professional member organization of six 21st century Mid-Career and Established printmakers: Dr. Deborah Grayson, LaToya Hobbs, Althea Murphy-Price, Karen Revis, Stephanie Santana and Tanekeya Word. 

Special thanks to organizer, educator, archivist and curator Mariame Kaba, and educator Neta Bomani for the creation of print and zine “Black Photo Booth,” from which the original image for As Above / So Below (2024) is sourced. For more information on Black Photo Booth, visit blackphotobooth.glitch.me.

For tickets visit: The Armory Show

__

Stephanie Santana (American, b. 1984, Los Angeles, CA; lives Brooklyn, NY) is a visual artist whose practice is rooted in the expansive traditions of textile arts and fine art printmaking. She received a BA in Communication Studies from Western Washington University, Bellingham in 2006 and an AAS in Textile/Surface Design from the Fashion Institute of Technology, New York, NY in 2018. Recent exhibitions include solo presentation Ways of Knowing at The Print Center, Philadelphia, PA (2024), and group presentations The Power of Portraiture: Selections from the Department of Drawings and Prints at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY (2022-23) and A Contemporary Black Matriarchal Lineage in Printmaking at Highpoint Center for Printmaking, Minneapolis, MN (2021).

Santana is a 2023 NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellow in Printmaking/Drawing/Book Arts, a 2023 Kahn|Mason SIP Fellow with EFA Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop, and a 2024-25 A.I.R. Gallery Fellow. Santana’s work is held in permanent collections such as the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Getty Research Institute, Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation and Janet Turner Print Museum. She has served as a visiting artist, panelist and guest lecturer at The bell hooks center, Rhode Island School of Design and SCAD Museum of Art, among others. Santana’s first solo exhibition in New York City, To Follow a Seed, will be presented by A.I.R. Gallery (Brooklyn, NY) in May 2025.

Website: www.stephaniesantana.com | Instagram: @stephanie___santana

EVENTS

SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 7, 2PM

Chakaia Booker: Public Art & Works on Paper

2pm at 40th and Broadway
3pm at EFA 323 West 39th Street NYC 10018

Chakaia Booker will lead a walkthrough of her largest work yet “Shaved Portions” located at 40th and Broadway, followed by a viewing of her unique works on paper at EFA Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop, located two blocks away at 323 West 39th Street.

RSVP Required. Please use the link below to get your free ticket.

Tickets: Chakaia Booker: Public Art & Works on Paper

SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 7, 4PM

In Dialogue | Dindga McCannon & Stephanie Santana

EFA 323 West 39th Street NYC 10018

Join us for in in conversation with exhibition “Where We At Now! Paper Works” at the Blackburn Study Center with exhibition organizer Dindga McCannon and featured artist for our presentation at The Armory Show, Stephanie Santana.

about the exhibition "Where We At" Black Women Artists Inc. (WWA BWA) was the first African American women art collective founded in 1971 by Kay Brown, Faith Ringgold and Dindga McCannon. 

“Where We At Now! Paper Works” up through November 2, 2024 - this exhibition highlights its earliest members’ works on paper. As a hub of print education and artistic community for the founding members of the collective, we are proud to host this exhibition and reaffirm its connection with its artists past and present.

RSVP Required. Please use the link below to get your free ticket:

Tickets: In Dialogue | Dindga McCannon & Stephanie Santana