IN THE ANNEX: APRIL 2021

Chelsea Bradway

Chelsea Bradway’s Mundanity is a series of photographs that were born out of the idea,‘We have fabulous clothes waiting in our closets for a special occasion. Why don't we wear them to vacuum, walk our daughters to get ice cream, or rake the leaves?’ Life will pass by in a moment, why not live it! The types of clothes one wears and the kinds of accessories used say a lot about who you are, where you are from and how you feel about yourself. What you wear sends nonverbal cues to other people. Bradway is saying this dress is a shield of power against mundanity. It yells out, “ I will not be defeated by mindlessness!”

Chelsea Bradway is a photographer born and raised in the Berkshires. She has a Masters in Special Education from Simmons College. Ever since she was a child she believed in wonder and whimsy. Bradway was brought up to believe that women are powerful, alluring, intelligent, kind, and endlessly capable. In her photographs, she combines magical moments with women’s empowerment for every age. Her work has been shown in Boston, Cambridge, Plymouth, Attleborough, Rhode Island, and Barcelona, Spain. Bradway has a studio in Framingham, MA at The Mill Contemporary Art.

Robyn Thompson Duong

Through magical realism, beauty and love of color, Robyn Thompson Duong’s work evokes pride in black culture and the spirit of femininity. Drawing inspiration from art history and challenging the societal perceptions and stereotypes of Black femininity and beauty she depicts women of color as Mother Goddess, grand, graceful, and beautiful. Duong’s work seeks to reappropriate the Black female image and what it means to be a woman of color.

Primarily a figurative artist, Robyn Thompson Duong works in acrylics at her New England art studio. As a black woman raised in the suburbs of Boston and often being the only person of color growing up, Duong knows the importance of representation and seeing one’s self in the images and people around you, hence her work depicting women of color as the main subjects of her paintings. She studied visual art at Syracuse University earning a BFA in 2002. After earning an MEd from Lesley University Duong combined her passion for art with her love of teaching. She has been an artist educator in both private and public institutions. Duong was named the Museum of Fine Arts Emerging Artist Fellow for 2020, Art and Business Council’s Creative Entrepreneur Fellow for 2021, and Mass MOCA residency fellow for 2021.

Natasha Dikareva

During the COVID quarantine Dikareva’s sculptures started to climb back into their shells to find a secure place during these challenging times. Her new pieces grow appendages to feel out our frenzied social shifts and build up layers of shell and coral to protect themselves. They feel the urge to reach out but hold back, diving instead into memories and virtual reality. They are holding precious discoveries like a pearl of wisdom or a tiny shell which helps them to stay grounded during the tumult of our changing tides. After the storm passes, they will emerge again revived, with new ways of sensing the world around them, ready to rebuild and create a new destiny. 

Natasha Dikareva was born and raised in Kiev, Ukraine and studied art in St. Petersburg, Russia during the hey-day of Soviet power. The genre of Soviet realism permeated Dikareva's young creative life. The narrow standard of approved art inadvertently pushed her to develop her own symbolic language. Dikareva immigrated to Minneapolis, USA and received her MFA from the University of Minnesota in 2004. After living in San Francisco for 15 years, she now lives and works in the rural area of Newmarket, New Hampshire. She won the Grand Prize at the American Museum of Ceramic Art in 2012. She exhibited at the Shanghai Art Expo, as well as at numerous galleries across Europe and the USA. Her work is featured in various publications, including 500 Prints on Clay and New Ceramics European magazine, and is held in public and private collections. She exhibits locally and internationally.

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