Silver Eye

In collaboration with Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership, Emerging Visions presents works by Pittsburgh-based artists Sobia Ahmad, Charlese Dawson, Anqwenique Kinsel and Evangeline Mensah-Agyekum.

Displayed on the windows of currently vacant storefronts, this public-facing, multi-site exhibition aims to provide transportive and meaningful encounters in an environment that tens of thousands of residents, workers, and passers by experience every day.

Participating artists and locations

Evangeline Mensah-Agyekum’s works grace the first-floor façade of the May Building at 529 Liberty Avenue. As a self-taught artist, Mensah-Agyekum primarily works with photography, fashion, and film. Evangeline draws inspiration from the banalities of daily life and the Black experience to explore Blackness, womanhood, and the unique intersections of identity. Much of her work aims to capture individuals, in part by transforming them, portraying undaunted characters through their vulnerability.

Anqwenique Kinsel's piece Legacy (2018) features at 604 Liberty Avenue. Anqwenique is a versatile artist and educator known for her talents in opera, classical, jazz, and soul music. As the founder and director of Groove Aesthetic, she delves into contemporary performance and collaborative processes. Legacy pays tribute to the legendary Leontyne Price, the first African American operatic soprano to achieve international recognition.

Sobia Ahmad's Stay Awhile (2023) adorns 817 Liberty Avenue. Ahmad's ongoing body of work centers on Pando, an ancient aspen tree grove in south-central Utah, believed to be over 10,000 years old. Unified by a single immense root system, Pando stands as the earth's oldest and heaviest living organism, embodying interconnectedness and oneness. Ahmad's art explores the transcendental power of everyday experiences, objects, and practices through various slow and contemplative processes.

Charlese Dawson is a multidisciplinary artist whose practice stretches across a vast variety of mediums. Presented at 421 Seventh Avenue are artworks by Dawson and a poem by Jhordan Price, selected from Send My Love to The Hill. This photobook of poetry takes audiences on a tour through the Hill District through the lens of people who are a part of the community. Send My Love to The Hill is a love letter to this historic black community that has nurtured both Dawson's artistry and humanity. Appropriately, this installation is only yards away from the August Wilson African American Cultural Center whose esteemed namesake described life in The Hill over decades and generations.