David Zwirner Gallery hosts benefit exhibition for Thread Senegal
The Albers Foundation is pleased to announce a benefit exhibition at David Zwirner Gallery, New York, in support of Thread, the Senegal-based nonprofit established in 2015 by the Foundation.
The Albers Foundation is pleased to announce a benefit exhibition at David Zwirner Gallery, New York, in support of Thread, the Senegal-based nonprofit established in 2015 by the Foundation. The exhibition features twenty-eight works, together with photographs by Giovanni Hänninen depicting Thread and its surroundings. With this fundraiser, Thread will be able to establish an endowment so that it can operate in perpetuity in the region.
Opened in March 2015, Thread is an artists' residency and community center in Sinthian, a village in the southeastern region of Senegal with a population of nearly 1,000. The Albers Foundation initiated the project in an isolated part of sub-Saharan Africa to allow painters, dancers, photographers, and other artists from all over the world, as well as from within Senegal, to pursue their own work while also interacting with the local community.
Thread's collaborative enterprises with the people of the region have grown significantly since its inception. Thread now provides agricultural training, and is home to an unprecedented cooperative of some 135 local women who grow and sell nutritious legumes and vegetables—thus eliminating, for the first time, hunger during the season of famine, while also providing income to its members. Thread has also become home to music and dance festivals, soccer tournaments, daily study halls, English classes, and village meetings. In addition, Thread, unlike other local spaces, offers a public gathering place for the female population of Sinthian, as well as teenagers from the surrounding area.
Featured artists include Tomma Abts, Anni Albers, Josef Albers, Ruth Asawa, Carol Bove, R. Crumb, Raoul De Keyser, Marlene Dumas, Marcel Dzama, William Eggleston, Suzan Frecon, Donald Judd, Aline Kominsky-Crumb, Oscar Murillo, Alice Neel, Raymond Pettibon, Neo Rauch, Ad Reinhardt, Bridget Riley, Al Taylor, Wolfgang Tillmans, Luc Tuymans, James Welling, Christopher Williams, and Lisa Yuskavage.
