STORYTELLER

Mona Cliff, Sanaz Haghani & Ato Ribeiro

Curated by Abigail Justin & Jacob O’Kelley of ShowerHaus

Opening Reception: Thursday, February 24, 6-9pm

Artist Talk: Saturday, March 19, 3pm
Exhibition Dates: February 24 - March 31, 2022

The Swan Coach House Gallery is pleased to present Storyteller, an exhibition of sculpture and installation by Georgia-based artists Sanaz Haghani and Ato Ribeiro, and Kansas-based artist Mona Cliff. The exhibition is curated by Jacob O’Kelley and Abigail Justman of ShowerHaus, an Atlanta-based curatorial team.

Weaving together lived experiences through cultural symbolism, each artist constructs works that investigate self-expression, identity, and future possibilities. Influenced by their mutual backgrounds in printmaking, each artist embraces a labor-intensive, process-based studio practice. Leaning into the journey of past lives and reflecting upon collective memory, the artists’ stories intuitively unravel new narratives creating through lines to themselves, their surroundings, and their invaluable communities.

Traversing across various complex histories, Ribeiro’s intricately patterned wooden tiles, Cliff’s meticulously beaded landscapes, and Haghani’s heavily inked draping monoprints evoke curiosity; the onlooker is inspired to invest time to thoroughly explore the messages, meanings, and decisions made by the artists. Storyteller begs the question: Do we continue down the path designed for us, or do we pivot into a future where we learn from, celebrate, and uplift communities that we have continued to neglect?

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Mona Cliff (Hanook-gah-neeh/ Spottedcloud) is an enrolled member of the
Gros Ventre tribe (A'aninin/Nakota Nations). She is from the Frozen Clan (Aniiih), and of the Medicine Bear Clan (Nakota) of Ft. Belknap, Montana. Cliff, who holds a BFA in Printmaking from Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle, Washington, is a multidisciplinary visual artist who explores contemporary Indigenous identity and culture through traditional Native crafting methods such as seed bead embroidery and fabric applique, the primary foundation of her practice. Her project Natives NOW, made possible by a public art grant through Art Place America and the Lawrence Arts Center, focused on bringing visibility to the vibrancy of Indigenous culture and the local Native community of Lawrence through the use of portraiture and projections. She recently completed a site specific installation for the Kansas City Museum and is currently embarking on a large-scale commissioned beaded piece for Kansas City International Airport. Cliff resides in Lawrence, Kansas with her family.

Sanaz Haghani is an interdisciplinary Iranian artist based in Georgia. Haghani holds an MFA in art from the University of Georgia and a BFA in Graphic Design from Sooreh Art Institute of Higher Education in Shiraz, Iran. She is now an adjunct instructor at Rowan-Cabarrus Community College in Salisbury, North Carolina. Haghani has taught papermaking and printmaking workshops through organizations including the Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts (Gatlinburg, TN) and the Robert C. Williams Museum of Papermaking (Atlanta). She also serves as the Vice President of Exhibitions and Curatorial for North American Hand Papermakers. Haghani has presented her work across the United States at the Museum of Contemporary Art Georgia, Museum of Contemporary Art, the Georgia Museum of Art, the Robert C. Williams Museum of Papermaking, and the Missoula Art Museum (Montana). She has exhibited internationally in multiple solo and group projects, and has been included in many invitational

and juried exhibitions. She was one of five artists selected by the Georgia Committee for the National Museum of Women in the Arts to exhibit at MOCA GA in Paper Routes: Women to Watch 2020.

Ato Ribeiro is a multidisciplinary artist working in a variety of media including sculptural installation, drawing, and printmaking. Ribeiro was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and spent his formative years in Accra, Ghana. He was the 2017 Mercedes-Benz Financial Services Emerging Artist Award recipient, an Artist in Residence at Künstlerhaus Bethanien in Berlin, Germany, and has received fellowships at Vermont Studio Center in Johnson, Vermont and Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture in Madison, Maine. His work is in the permanent collections of the Mercedes-Benz USA Headquarters, Detroit Institute of Art, Cranbrook Art Museum and multiple private collections. Ribeiro earned his BA from Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia, and his MFA in Print Media from Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. He currently resides in Atlanta, where he is a current MINT Leap Year Fellow.

ShowerHaus was established by Jacob O’Kelley and Abigail Justman as an artist-run project space at the Goat Farm Arts Center in late 2018. Since then ShowerHaus has created and curated thirteen unique exhibitions, including The High Rise Show, featuring over 200 local and national artists. ShowerHaus has also collaborated with local government and arts organizations including Fulton County Arts and Culture, MINT Gallery, TILA Studios, The Creatives Project, Peters Street Station, Swan Coach House Gallery, and most recently the Atlanta Airport Art Program.

Jacob O’Kelley is an artist and curator living and working in Atlanta. He received his BFA in Drawing, Painting, and Printmaking from Georgia State University in 2016. Post graduation, O’Kelley was an intern for Sandler Hudson Gallery, a studio assistant to Working Artist Project (WAP) Fellow Krista Clark at MOCA GA, and is currently the Gallery Manager at MINT Gallery. In 2018, O’Kelley co-founded ShowerHaus with Abigail Justman. O’Kelley’s personal artwork primarily revolves around queer identity and time, memory, and domesticity through paintings and sculptural installation. His queer experience has motivated him to examine the qualities of the home and the impact the home has had on his life.

Abigail Justman is an artist and curator living and working in Atlanta, GA. She received her BFA in Drawing and Painting from Georgia State University. After graduation, Justman worked

as the Aesthetic Director of the Goat Farm Arts Complex before co-founding ShowerHaus with Jacob O’Kelley in 2018. In her personal art practice, Justman creates wall sculptures resembling suspended textiles. Using oil pastels and vinyl, she manipulates her material into brightly-colored arrangements that demand the artist remain present with every fold and twist. Each piece represents a moment suspended in time and an appreciation for intentionality.

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This exhibition is sponsored by an anonymous donor. 

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SWAN COACH HOUSE GALLERY

3130 Slaton Drive NW // Atlanta, GA 30305

Hours: Tuesday – Saturday, 10am – 4pm

www.swangallery.org gallery

@swancoachhouse.com