An artists’ reception Saturday, October 7th, 2-6 pm, will highlight THE MEDITERRANEAN, a benefit exhibition for migrant relief at the old industrial Brookletts Building in Easton, Maryland. Painters Amare Selfu and Carol Minarick join forces to focus on the humanitarian crisis occurring in the Mediterranean. This year alone more than 132,000 migrants from Africa, Asia and the Middle East have crossed the sea from North Africa to Europe.
All works sold at the exhibit will benefit Doctors Without Borders and the International Rescue Committee as they continue to help the thousands of refugees in this ongoing emergency.
More than 3,200 have drowned in the harrowing exodus as overloaded boats capsize, and international rescue efforts are overwhelmed. Even before they reach the sea Sub-Saharan migrants are the most vulnerable simply because of their skin color. They face exploitation, confinement and rape by smugglers and traffickers.
Both artists have personal connections with the region. Amare Selfu, on the faculties of the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) and Goucher College, is an immigrant from Africa. He has exhibited extensively in his native Ethiopia and observes that many lost in the Mediterranean are fleeing conditions in East Africa. Amare’s work is concerned with the “physicality and non-physicality of borders,” a theme of his recent exhibition at Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts.
Carol Minarick is reprising the benefit exhibit for refugee relief she shared with local artists two years ago at her studio. She studied at the American University of Beirut and continues to support that vital institution in the Middle East. Her paintings are about peril at sea, including the plight of those fleeing Syria. A resident of Easton, she has had more than 30 solo exhibitions, in the United States and Canada, including a 2015 installation at the Academy Art Museum.
The Artists’ Reception is 2 – 6 pm Saturday, October 7th. Exhibition hours are: Friday – Sunday, 2 – 6 pm, October 6-8, and by appointment. For further information please call 443-803-6433.
The Brookletts Building, Studio 204
404 Brookletts Avenue
Easton, MD 21601
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