"Layo Bright: Dawn and Dusk"

Layo Bright’s first solo museum exhibition featuring new and recent works in glass and pottery made between 2019 and 2024. Working in the round, on the wall, and in relief, Bright’s practice centers narratives of ancestry, feminism, migration, and the African diaspora. She cites her matrilineal heritage, Nigerian Ife bronze heads, and West African textiles, as well as contemporary artists Simone Leigh, Wangechi Mutu, Beth Lipman, Fred Wilson, and Alison Saar as some of her inspirations. Bright chooses materials that express geopolitical and biographical resonance to spotlight themes of female solidarity and matriarchy, as well as memories of Nigeria and her diasporic experience in the United States. Her portraits in blown and kiln-formed glass and pottery are tributes to the women in her life.