OCTOBER 23, 2021- JANUARY 23, 2022

Prospect 5: Yesterday we said tomorrow is the fifth edition of Prospect New Orleans, a citywide art exhibition. Inspired by New Orleans jazz musician Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah’s 2010 album Yesterday You Said Tomorrow, the title of the exhibition centers the unspoken present, the place where past and future come together, and where other courses of action become possible. The exhibition title also implies the deferral of meaningful change, which often comes slowly or not at all. The artists and ideas that define this exhibition confront this truth, and the stark realities of history, but also suggest that we might yet plot a different future.

Prospect.5 features an intergenerational group of 51 artists from the United States, the Caribbean, Africa, and Europe. The artists have created projects that emerge from research into place, express connections to the past and to land, and seek to form and reflect community. They have considered the ways in which history continues to shape the present, and their artworks are testaments to acts of ritual, selfhood, and modes of resistance that define daily life in New Orleans and beyond. Their projects offer spaces of memorialization and mourning, and of imagination and togetherness.

Yesterday we said tomorrow takes its cues from the current moment and from New Orleans itself, a city built on inextricable layers of history. While the narratives of this history are contested and suppressed, its presence can always be felt. This exhibition, the course of which has been marked by the Covid-19 pandemic, a historic election, and Hurricane Ida, presents art as a means of defining one’s self and as a statement of opposition, and as an enduring assertion that challenges the dominant historical record. It reveals the ways that New Orleans, a beacon of culture and an embodiment of this nation’s complicated past, is a quintessentially American city, the future of which is dependent on the truths of our past and the actions of the present.

Prospect.5: Yesterday we said tomorrow is curated by the Susan Brennan Co-Artistic Directors Naima J. Keith and Diana Nawi, with Grace Deveney, Associate Curator, and Lucia Olubunmi Momoh, Curatorial Associate.

P.5 Artists

a note from the director

Nick Stillman

How did we get here? It’s the enigmatic question everybody is asking themselves and others in response to our cultural moment. Are our experiences as New Orleanians, as Americans, as global citizens unprecedented? Prospect.5 is our layered response. To arrive here, we have navigated a global pandemic and its ongoing variant, a ruinous presidential administration, and a hurricane that threatened the land so important to this exhibition. Organizing Prospect is a complex endeavor to begin with; this iteration has been especially so. I believe the persistence of our artists, artistic directors, staff, and board shows in our work. I invite you to take your time seeing the Prospect.5 exhibition, to visit and revisit the work that surprises and beguiles you, and to soak in the city as you do so. Learning, relearning, and living the narratives that have made New Orleans… that’s how we got here.

artistic directors

diana nawi

Diana Nawi is an independent curator based in Los Angeles and the Susan Brennan Co-Artistic Director of Prospect.5, New Orleans. Most recently she organized *On the Other Side of Something* at We Buy Gold, New York, and an accompanying public project at nine sites throughout the city; *Mark Bradford: Los Angeles* at the Long Museum, Shanghai; and *Michael Rakowitz: Dispute between the Tamarisk and the Date Palm* at REDCAT, Los Angeles. Nawi previously served as Associate Curator at Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM) for five years, where she curated exhibitions and published catalogues including *John Dunkley: Neither Day nor Night*, *Nari Ward: Sun Splashed*, *Iman Issa: Heritage Studies*, and *Adler Guerrier: Formulating a Plot*. While at PAMM Nawi produced newly commissioned projects with a range of international artists including Haroon Mirza, Matthew Ronay, Shana Lutker, Nicole Cherubini, Yael Bartana, Bouchra Khalili, and LOS JAICHACKERS (Julio César Morales and Eamon Ore-Giron). Prior to joining PAMM, Nawi worked as an assistant curator on the Abu Dhabi Project of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation and served as a fellow at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago and the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art. Her most recent publication, *McArthur Binion: DNA* was published in 2020 and her writing has appeared in publications for the Institute of Contemporary Arts Singapore, Marrakech Biennial, National Gallery of Jamaica, New Museum, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, and the Studio Museum of Harlem, among others. She received her BA from UCLA and her MA from the Williams Graduate Program in the History of Art.
@NAWINAWINAWI

NAIMA J. KEITH

Naima J. Keith is the Vice President of Education and Public Programs at Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) where she is responsible for overseeing youth, family, school, teacher, as well as adult, film and music programs. Keith previously served as the Deputy Director and Chief Curator at the California African American Museum (CAAM), where she guided the curatorial and education departments as well as marketing and communications. While at CAAM, she curated exhibitions with artists Genevieve Gaignard, Kenyatta A.C. Hinkle, and Gary Simmons, among many others. She was the 2017 recipient of the David C. Driskell Prize in recognition of her contributions to the field of African American art history, and is the Susan Brennan Co-Artistic Director of Prospect.5 in New Orleans, opening fall 2020.
From 2011-2016, Keith was an Associate Curator at the Studio Museum in Harlem and organized exhibitions with a variety of artists, including Rodney McMillian, Titus Kaphar, and Charles Gaines. Keith has also held a curatorial position at the Hammer Museum, serving as the primary contact for the groundbreaking exhibition *Now Dig This! Art and Black Los Angeles 1960–1980*, organized by guest curator Kellie Jones. She has lectured extensively and her essays have appeared in numerous publications. Keith holds degrees from Spelman College and UCLA and is a proud native of Los Angeles.
@NAIMAJOY

Prospect Staff

LB Barfield

Chief Preparator / AV Lead / Exhibitions Designer
Prospect’s Chief Preparator/Exhibitions Designer, LB Barfield, was born in New Orleans. LB returned to the city in 2011 to work as a Chief Preparator and Exhibitions Manager at the Contemporary Arts Center, New Orleans, where she worked until 2020 and oversaw dozens of exhibitions, including Cecilia Vicuña: About to Happen, Adam Pendleton: Becoming Imperceptible, Hinge Pictures: Eight Women Artists Occupy the Third Dimension, Mickalene Thomas: Femmes Noire, and many more. LB also works as Chief Preparator at the Rivers Institute for Contemporary Art & Thought, an organization founded by curator Andrea Andersson based in New Orleans, for which she most recently installed Stanford Biggers’ work in Code Switch at California African American Museum in Los Angeles. LB aims to continue to build a team of preparators, art Handlers, and fabricators comprised mostly of womxn and queers. The P.5 install team is a reflection of those efforts.
Taylor Holloway

Programs & Community Engagement Manager
Taylor Holloway is the Programs & Community Engagement Manager for Prospect.5 New Orleans. As a designer, architect, activist, and educator, Taylor uses design-driven approaches to promote equity in the built environment. Prior to joining Prospect, Taylor facilitated the creation of people- and community-centered design solutions at myriad organizations including Studio BE, Southeastern Louisiana University, YouthBuild USA, the Social Impact Studio, University of Johannesburg, SITE Santa Fe, and the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts. Additionally, Taylor is a Core Organizer in the Design As Protest Collective and the Founder of Public Design Agency, an organization that utilizes design-thinking, public art, and architecture to train future generations of designers, builders, & change-makers.
Sarah Rose Janko

Assistant Exhibitions Manager
Sarah Rose Janko received her undergraduate degree from The New School with a focus on “Arts in Context” in 2007. She came to New Orleans the same year to work as a teaching artist for Young Audiences and as a metal fabricator supporting the visions of local artists Luis Colmenares, Clifton Faust, and Tamar Taylor. She also aided in the installation and fabrication of artwork for artists exhibiting at Prospect.1, including Ghada Amer and Nari Ward. In 2008, she curated an exhibition entitled The Gold and The Dust at the short lived Oyster Factory Gallery”with work by Read More Books, You Go Girl, Rachel David, and others. Most recently working as a preparator for the Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco, Sarah Rose has returned to New Orleans to serve as the Assistant Exhibitions Manager for Prospect.5. With manifold experience in the arts as a teaching artist, fabricator, preparator, and performer in her own right, Sarah Rose’s focus remains the moment art becomes public experience.
Nora Kovacs

Operations Manager
Nora Kovacs is the Operations Manager for P.5. Prior to joining Prospect, Nora was the Gallery Associate at Thierry Goldberg Gallery (New York, NY), where she organized solo and group exhibitions including Bony Ramirez, David Shrobe, and Kenechukwu Victor. From 2019 to 2020, Nora co-curated Nothing gentle will remain, a publication featuring new commissions by Josefin Arnell, Pauline Curnier Jardin, Paul Maheke, Dipesh Pandya, and Naïmé Perrette, in partnership with Open School East (Margate, UK). Nora’s writing has been published by Burnaway, Public Parking, This Is Tomorrow, Berlin Art Link, AQNB, the International Awards for Art Criticism, Pelican Bomb, and OlyArts. Nora holds a BA in Global Liberal Studies from New York University and an MA in Curating Contemporary Art from Royal College of Art.
Rayyan Maqbool

Programming Assistant
Rayyan Maqbool is a New Orleans native working as the Programming Assistant for Prospect.5: Yesterday We Said Tomorrow. Prior to joining P.5, Rayyan received a BA in Psychology and a minor in Collaborative Innovation Design from the University of Notre Dame. As a graphic designer and UX researcher, her designs are intended to humanize the changes that modern technology brings. Rayyan is studied and passionate about the history of her city, her community, and the future of New Orleans. Through all of her work, she hopes to make more space for organizations working on art and community-building that is catered to women and BIPOC communities.
Lucia Olubunmi R. Momoh

Curatorial Associate
Lucia Olubunmi Momoh is a curator, writer, and scholar. Prior to joining Prospect, Lucia worked as a curatorial assistant for the UC Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Archive. She received her MA in Art History in New Orleans at Tulane University and her BA in Art History and French at the University of Oregon in Eugene. Her research focuses on the long-nineteenth century and examines issues of anti-black racism, the production of history, and capitalism and the role of museums and exhibition spaces in connection to the formation of national, regional, and community identities. Her curatorial practice—which she envisions as an extension of her political and environmental activism—centers issues pertinent to womxn of the Black diaspora.
Renee Royale

Social Media Manager
Renee Royale is an independent curator, artist, writer, and media strategist. She is the founder of Support Black Art, and has curated exhibitions in and worked collaboratively with various art galleries, museums, fairs, and alternative art spaces in New York City, New Orleans, and Barbados. Her goal is to provide alternate ways of experiencing art, utilizing innovative methods and modern technology to break down socioeconomic and institutionalized barriers for a more equitable, authentic art world.

PROSPECT.5 ARTISTIC DIRECTOR’S COUNCIL

The council advises on artist selections, public programing, and publication projects for Prospect.5. It comprises Rita Gonzalez, curator of contemporary art at Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Deana Haggag, Program Officer at the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, New York; Gia Hamilton, executive director and chief curator at the New Orleans African American Museum; Eungie Joo, curator of contemporary art at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; Thomas J. Lax, associate curator of media and performance art at the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Courtney J. Martin, director, Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, Connecticut; Valerie Cassel Oliver, curator of modern and contemporary art at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts; and Franklin Sirmans, director of the Pérez Art Museum Miami.

Eungie Joo

Curator of contemporary art at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
Rita Gonzalez

Curator of contemporary art at LACMA
Gia Hamilton

Executive director and chief curator at the New Orleans African American Museum
Deana Haggag

Program Officer at the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, New York
Thomas J. Lax

Associate curator of media and performance art at the Museum of Modern Art, New York
Courtney J. Martin

Director, Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, Connecticut
Valerie Cassel Oliver

Curator of modern and contemporary art at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond
Franklin Sirmans

Director of the Pérez Art Museum Miami

Funders

Prospect.5 Yesterday we said tomorrow would not be possible without the generous support of the following individuals, foundations, and corporations. We are deeply grateful to all of our supporters.