Jewel Ham

Multidisciplinary visual artist, curator, and educator Jewel Ham centers her work around the notion of reparation, considering her practice as a means to this end. At the core of her practice is a depiction of the Black interior and its innovative and witty nature. In Ham’s narrative-driven portraiture, her work is defined by being an act of resistance. Her exploration of liberation is portrayed through the lens of wellness and embodiment. For Ham, her identity as a Taurus is influential over her creative practice, particularly through her interests in sensuality, pleasure, and aesthetics. Combining this with a mining of personal and collective history allows Ham to delve into and pictorialize the emotional realities that are inherent to the day-to-day facets of Black life. ...

Galerie Cecile Fakhoury opened its doors in Abidjan, Ivory Coast in September 2012. In May 2018, the gallery inaugurated its second space in Dakar, Senegal and a showroom in Paris, France. Shortly after, in March 2020, a new project space dedicated to emerging artists from Africa opened in Abidjan. In October 2021, Galerie Cecile Fakhoury inaugurated another gallery, opening in the 8th arrondissement of Paris on Avenue Matignon. The gallery promotes contemporary art from Africa and the Diaspora by providing visibility to the artistic diversity and creative spirit from the continent. Through its programming of solo and group exhibitions, participation in international art fairs, biennales, and collaboration with international galleries, Cecile Fakhoury is a leading force putting contemporary African art on the global map. The artists represented by the gallery are distinguished by their cultural identities and stories, they create a new language that crosses geographical boundaries and familiarities. They are observers of the world they live in, critics of society, and committed to their positions living within complex histories. In turn, they ask us to reconsider our own relation to the world. ...