By Carole Boyce Davies
The African Diaspora is a complex field of interaction, representing at times in the context of the wide dispersal of African peoples worldwide, a series of overlapping diaspora. What is often significant, in my view, is the salient aspect of transformation and re-elaboration. Candioti's work, in this exhibition, represents just that.
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"Art and Testimony" presents wonderful images of African and peoples native of the Americas, in striking aesthetic articulations. It is fitting that she titles it "Art and Testimony", a deliberate link between the representational in visual articulation. We often do not think of "art" in the same discursive frame as "testimony". But here the juxtaposition of these two fields brings its subject matter to life. And, indeed, this art thus testifies to the existence of a people rich in African culture as in its extensions in the New World.
Candioti has received accolades for her work across Latin America. We are pleased to be able to have the opportunity to witness this visual feast in North America now. The extension of knowledge about the African Diaspora, in this case, via art is an essential component of our intellectual and social understandings. It provides us with another opportunity to make decisive links between University and our various communities. Candioti is well positioned to do this having studied well the African Diaspora communities in Latin America. "Art and Testimony" serves as a fitting documentation and representation of these cultures and their diverse peoples.
Carole Boyce Davies Director, African- New World Studies Florida International University 2000