Events

Location: LabCentral Lobby
Time: 4:30PM-8:00PM

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* A one-of a kind art and racial health equity event brought to you by Nucarta in association with Gallery 1832. This unique event includes both an art exhibition and a panel component, making it one not to be missed! For details on the expert panel for 'The Art of Communication in Racial Health Equity Innovation' please click here!

What comes to mind when you see the phrase ‘racial health equity and justice’? Does this phrase conjure images of doctors and nurses providing treatment to patients of color, or people marching for civil rights? Perhaps you think of issues surrounding systemic racism, economic suppression, or residential segregation.

Health equity is defined as the state in which everyone has a fair and just opportunity to attain their highest level of health. There is ample research evidence to demonstrate that this has simply not been the case for Black and Brown, racial and ethnic minority communities in the USA.

This is no new phenomenon; racial health inequities have been documented for decades, and are rooted in a longstanding history of exploitation and unjust practices that have put people of color at the bottom of every social determinant of health.

“The Art of Communication in Racial Health Equity Innovation” challenges the audience –composed of creatives, scientists, healthcare providers, innovators, and general observers–  to reevaluate their roles and responsibilities in combating the structural and systemic racism that is so deeply embedded in our life sciences ecosystem. 

This exhibition is powered by Nucarta (New, Creative, Art and Advocacy), a racial health-equity focused startup that aims to ‘creatively solution’ for improved health outcomes for our Black, Brown, and minority communities. Nucarta has chosen to verb-ify the word ‘solution,’ to highlight that health equity efforts must be action-centric and personalized to the needs of that particular community; there is no single, static solution that can single handedly eliminate all disparities. Nucarta strives to push for more intentional and creative communications between those who create our medicines, those who provide our medicines, and those who receive our medicines - using art, and quality data. This unique exhibit presents Black, Brown and minority artists as key change agents in the work of racial health equity and justice.

What does innovation mean in its truest essence? It is the creation of something new. So, how do we plan on creating without creatives? We can’t. We cannot expect change by implementing the same solutions. It is time for a new approach. It is time for real health equity innovation.

Featured Artists

Cesar Perez
IG handle: @_monomyth.01

I am a visual artist of Dominican descent who now resides in Everett, MA. Growing up in the Greater Boston area, Dorchester in specific, most of my work is influenced directly from my culture, integrated with my experiences throughout my life in being a first-generation Dominican in America. I was a part of the METCO program, which offered inner city students from Boston a better opportunity to succeed by sending them to better funded school districts to receive better education. Innately when entering the program, I was able to gain a more quality educational experience that the public schools were not able to provide me with, unfortunately because of a lack of resources.

I have traveled around the world, from Germany on an exchange trip for a few months, to constant homeland trips back to Dominican Republic, then spending my later years in California, and road-tripping the country a few times before the pandemic hit us and sat us all down. 

During this time, I developed a certain empathetic understanding for what this country and the world has to offer. I try to shine light on some of the aspects I love about living in a country like America, and choose to call out some of the injustices and some of the things I see to be obscure. With this being said, many themes arise in my body of work such as time, identity, social injustice and the growing pains of living in a country where freedom is a constant struggle. Constantly shifting my ideas on the world and how I see my role in society. This shows out consistently throughout my work, because, as my mind alters, my pieces take on different forms -similar to the mind opening different browsers, letting you into the intellectual property that was bestowed upon all of us from birth. Nevertheless, I feel like I have a certain connection to my own work that has been pushing me to collaborate with different communities on the ground level, to meet more creatives and also to engage the community in open spaces available for expression. I hope to offer some of this same energy into a community with an organic, fresh perspective on the society that we are trying to decipher and dissect as humans on a day to day. Seeking honesty and purity in each and every one of my pieces. Invoking thought, not pressure.

Malia Setalsingh 
IG handle: @artisself

Malia Setalsingh was born and raised in Miami, Florida and currently resides in Boston, Massachusetts. She began painting in 2018 at Artists for Humanity (AFH), where she also held her first exhibition. Though it was at AFH that she strengthened her passion and skill set, Malia recalls having always been in touch with her creativity as a child; she remembers creating as a way to pass time. The artist pens:

“My work consists mainly of atmospheric abstraction, which I create using Acrylic, oil paints and collage. The combination of impasto mark making and the use of bright colors completely drive the direction of my paintings. The end result of a piece tends to be very unpredictable as I do very little planning when starting. Due to the various techniques of my artistic expression, I find my work holds a dual nature - in not being influenced by anything in particular and contrarily, having true, personal meaning behind them. I am inspired by music, experiences of my everyday life and how I feel in the current moment. Creativity is instinctual to me. I create with my intuition and my feelings. I go with whatever feels right and is pleasing to my eye. When people view my work, I want them to create their own interpretation, and if possible, feel some sort of emotion.”

Following her time at AFH, Malia attended Montserrat College of Art where she was exposed to many different mediums. She built upon her artistic foundation and learned more about various techniques to visual arts. She also experimented in sculpture and photography.

Malia‘s artwork has since been featured in various places in the city of Boston, such as Abigail Ogilvy’s 2022 Fresh Faces Gallery, as well as Ripple Cafe, a local coffee shop. Malia plans to further her creativity by continuing to experiment in different mediums, strengthening her current skills and sharing her unique work with the world.

David Edmundson
IG handle: @de_artwork

Throughout my artistic years, I've made a few transitions in how I express myself throughout my artwork. My love for being creative began when I was in grade school, growing up watching cartoons and reading comic books. The thought of me being able to create or recreate new characters myself was a fascination of mine. I am a self taught illustrator, and developed my ability by drawing some of my favorite characters.

My illustrations of caricatures and cartoons first transitioned from that to portraits. What inspired me to do portraits was the challenge of capturing the essence of a person and expressing their qualities. After many years, I have transitioned from sketching portraits, to pen and ink pointillism - also known as stippling. The thought of creating an image with tiny dots sold me, and for me, this Zen-like method was right up my lane. In 2018, I transitioned from pen and ink to acrylic painting.

My style of painting is unorthodox. It is different from the traditional painter style, whereas I don't use paint brushes or easels. Being self taught, and not formally educated on color theory and the proper use of brushes, I have adapted my own method of painting. I apply the paint directly from the tube, creating what I call ‘3D stipple artwork.’

Being self taught means that there can be an artist in everyone. My mission is to help and inspire the next generation, and to encourage the ones with or without any artistic talent. My artwork is meant to be ‘feel good art.’ I hope my work motivates and induces euphoric thoughts, as well as thoughts of wonder, through artistic expression. Part of my mission is to also enjoy myself, have fun, and be free within my work -not necessarily to be boxed into the norm and traditional methods of painting. My artwork inspires individuals to think outside the box and to explore different methods of painting and creating.

Ananda Toulon
IG Handle: @anandatoulon

My name is Ananda Toulon, and I am the last of 5 children. I was born in Dominica and frequently moved around from an early age, to finally settle in Massachusetts with my mother and older siblings. I have always been attached to art but never realized my why until recently. Art is in me. I would often hear from my mother that my father was a practicing artist but chose to give it up prior to my birth; my siblings were also artistically inclined, so I must have developed an interest from watching them.

I have always enjoyed observing people and taking note of their interactions with each other and themselves - especially when people focus on the small things, the details. It is part of the reason why I love to paint portraits - they are my way of capturing a layered moment. Between frequent moves and periods of separation, I started to use painting as a way to cope, and mostly pass the time. I've never been much for words, so I use my work to speak for me. 

Anupallavi Sinha
IG Handle: @theanueffect

Anupallavi Sinha is a mixed-media artist based in Boston, Massachusetts. Her work focuses on thought-provoking multiplicities, and the interconnectedness between self-reflection and one’s experience of the external environment. Her fascination with multiformity and cause-and-effect relationships stems from her lived experience as a dynamic individual with diverse ideas and interests; this is reflected even in the essence of her name. 

‘Anupallavi’ holds two separate meanings in two, distinct Indian languages - translating to ‘a part of a song,’ as well as ‘delicate and tender.’ It is also a combination of two shorter names that translate differently in several other languages and regions: ‘Anu’ means ‘atom’ in Sanskrit, ‘mercy’ in the Yoruba language in Nigeria, ‘something unknown’ in Indonesian, ‘us’ in Hebrew, ‘grace’ in Finnish. The list carries on. She states, “my work is all about perspective. I am all about perspective.”

Sinha’s practice has evolved from graphite pencil and charcoal portraits in the style of realism, to working more freely with mixed media, often experimenting with unorthodox acrylic paint application techniques, and incorporating items found around her apartment, such as scribbled pages from an old journal. Sinha’s latest abstract works are often paired with original poetry pieces that delve into high- and low- level context clues. Her work serves to prompt observers to consider a new perspective, feel a new feeling, and for this to prompt further self-reflection.

Honorary Artist

Nucarta Honorary Artist

The Nucarta Honorary Artist is an honorary title awarded to an exceptional representative of visual arts for their outstanding contributions to the development of the arts of painting, sculpture, graphics, design, decorative and applied arts, as well as for the creation of unique work that prompts a new generation of art and thinking.

It is with great pleasure that we announce our inaugural Nucarta Artist Honoree: Ranajit Sinha.

Biography

Ranajit Sinha is an internationally exhibiting artist based in Ottawa, Canada. He was born and raised in New Delhi, India. 

His practice focuses on the centrality of the body within global and local flows of sensation, perception and lived experience. Ranajit’s sculpted paintings cause the viewer to physically engage in the subjective activity of discovery. Through visual representations, his aim is to show the tangibility, the sentient reality of changing identities. His current practice focuses more on the non-physical evolution that highlights the material process of abolishing and renewing one’s identity.

Ranajit received his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Delhi College of Art in New Delhi, and his first Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Print Making from Visva Bharati University, Santiniketan in India. During this time, he was awarded with various prestigious awards such as the National Academy Award, All India Fine Arts & Crafts Society (AIFACS), National Research Grant award, to name a few.

He received his second MFA degree in Painting from Central Washington University (CWU), with a teaching assistantship grant. 

Ranajit has exhibited in worldwide art galleries, including National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi, India; All Fardan Centre in Dubai, UAE; Sarah Spurgeon Gallery, Ellensburg, WA, USA; the Varley Art Gallery, Toronto, Canada; Canadian Sculpture Center, Toronto; Agora Gallery, Chelsea, New York; Saw Art Gallery, Ottawa; Wall Space Art Gallery, Ottawa, etc.

He has received several global recognitions through a collection of awards and grants in the USA, India, and Canada. His works can be found in the collections of the City of Ottawa Art Collection; Canada Council Art Bank; CWU, Ellensburg, WA, USA; Dubai Art Gallery, United Arab Emirates; Modern Art Gallery, New Delhi and numerous international private and corporate collections.

Ranajit has also worked in the advertising world with reputed companies such as Saatchi & Saatchi and Young & Rubicam during his stay in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, prior to migrating to Canada.  

He is currently represented by Wall Space Gallery, Ottawa, Canada.