Tales from the Porch IV: Art is a Language
In 2019, Aitina Fareed-Cooke launched the Tales from the Porch initiative to amplify community voices through the creative arts. Over the years, this community-based initiative has garnered substantial funding from Buffalo State University’s Anne Frank Project, the New York State Council on the Arts, the Buffalo AKG Art Museum, and Creatives Rebuild New York, among others.
Tales from the Porch is now in its fourth iteration and has successfully engaged diverse audiences across generations, providing platforms for both emerging and professional artists to collaborate, enrich their portfolios, and discover lucrative growth opportunities.
Curated by Aitina Fareed-Cooke and presented at Buffalo Arts Studio, Tales from the Porch IV: Art is a Language is an exploration of visual, performing and literary arts through a documentary film, and multimedia arts exhibition. It showcases a blend of Fareed-Cooke's photography and poetry, complemented by artwork from Julia Bottoms, Bob Fleming, George Afedzi Hughes, Dr. Phyllis Thompson, and Muhammad Zaman. These artists all share strong ties to Buffalo Arts Studio, contributing to a diverse and engaging exhibition.
Behind-the-scenes images of the creative process were captured by Kaitlyn Lowe, Kalvin Booker, and Tallulah Gordon and will be exhibited as part of the exhibition as well. These paintings, prints, poems, and photographs engage with each other, creating a dialogue between the artists and their diverse art forms.
The Tales from the Porch IV: Art is a Language documentary was executively directed by Aitina Fareed-Cooke, filmed and edited by Alex Rojè Felix with music produced by Robert “CarolinahBlu” Herrod.
Tales from the Porch IV: Art is a Language is funded in part by Creatives Rebuild New York, Get Fokus’d Productions and A.I. The Anomaly’s Patreon Members.
Check out the candid moments from our opening reception on July 26th at Buffalo Arts Studio
Images by Kalvin Booker of Through His Lens Photography
The Storytellers
Muhammad Zaman
Community Voice | Painter
My porch is cemented in earth's natural lexicon
Strokes of equanimity overlay optimistic intentions
Spread throughout this woven fabric are expectations
An anxious dance shaped by calligraphy
Choreographed characters serenading the palette
Hands stretching as touch tastes the textiles
Soothing this rage that wells beneath bruises
Inside these letters lie languages longing to live
-Written by Aitina Fareed-Cooke
Dr. Phyllis Thompson
Community Voice | Visual Artist & Educator
My porch is my ancestors plea
For us to regain wisdom’s dream
A legacy that carries shape as the metronome breathes
Each stroke is an illustration of evolving memories
Rhythmic markings
Patterned imperfections of life
Like rivers pouring fountains
Soaking the fertile ground
-Written by Aitina Fareed-Cooke
George Afedzi Hughes
Community Voice | Contemporary Visual Artist
My porch is a spotlight on history’s deceptions
My paint details the discord
The interpretation of social performance
This brush soaks in the acrylic
Releasing this language into fragments
My metaphoric humor drips like subtle urban allusions
Revealing the layers of realities sorrow
An infinite quest for authenticity
-Written by Aitina Fareed-Cooke
Julia Bottoms
Community Voice | Visual Artist
My porch is the framework of a natural designer
A renaissance of distinctive truths
Structured canvas of imaginative embellishments
A cradling of crowns colliding
Ripping narratives like shattered china
Forever lost in floral gardens
Meant to dilute portraits of chocolate colored faces
Instead it birthed an audacity to exist
-Written by Aitina Fareed-Cooke
Bob Fleming
Community Voice | Visual Artist
My porch is a constant calling for balance
Kindred figures all off kilter
Displaced bodies searching for stability
Drifting drowning in hope for change
For interconnections
Disruption to divisions
A beckoning for reunion
A return to shared humanity
-Written by Aitina Fareed-Cooke
Aitina Fareed-Cooke
Photo By: Kristy Tasca Photography
"We all have our porches. Our platforms from which we share our stories. Our lives. From these porches we learn perspectives. We learn of the varying commonalities and complexities that exist, human to human.
As we exchange these tales, we share our hopes, fears, and dreams. Together we discover the beautiful weight of reality which is that we are all human. Different, yet the same." - Aitina Fareed-Cooke
We would like to recognize the following supporters & funders of this project over the years:
