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Focus: Cassanda Mayela Allen

Focus: Cassanda Mayela Allen

Cassandra Mayela (b. Caracas, Venezuela) is a self-taught artist based in New York since 2014, when she forcedly migrated from Venezuela. Her creations delve into identity, migration, and belonging, drawing from personal experiences as an immigrant and woman of color. Fascinated by textiles, she explores their unique storytelling potential, preserving and reimagining memories through material transformation. Cassandra fosters community through research, conversations, and creative blends of textiles and found materials, embracing sustainability. Her work has been exhibited at Vacation Gallery, La Salita, Acompi/ NARS Foundation, Olympia, JO-HS, NADA House and EFA Project Space.

Stop by the gallery to see Allen's textile works that are currently on view in the group exhibition City Life, curated by Marcus Leslie Singleton.

"The two pieces i included in this exhibition are part of a new body of work where I photograph the visual language of NY and archive it in the form of quilts. Many shops and bodegas have either closed or changed their appearance due to gentrification so I feel it is important to document them before it’s all gone" - Cassandra Mayela Allen.


Works:

CASSANDRA MAYELA ALLEN
Looking Sharp, 2023
Photographic print on cotton and repurposed fabrics
171 x 133 cm

CASSANDRA MAYELA ALLEN
A Hotdog with Alotta Ketchup, 2023
Photographic print on cotton and repurposed fabrics in smoked oak frame
122 x 127 cm (unframed)
123.5 x 130 cm (framed)

Please contact mail@v1gallery.com for more information about the art works.

Photo: Basie Allen