#iap interview

“Without seeing yourself and your stories reflected around you, you do not find the freedom to pursue your true identity and calling.”

Born in India and raised in the United States, Ambika Samarthya-Howard is an artist, film producer, and also a mentor in our Immigrant Artist Mentoring Program: Performing and Literary Arts and Head of Communications at WITNESS, where she combines her passion for film and social change. She received her MFA in Film at Columbia University and has done art and media projects in Japan, Bollywood, and West Africa.

NYFA: You said once that “visibility is the first stepping stone to justice.” How does this advice relate to artists who are immigrants, international, or multicultural?

Ambika Samarthya-Howard: While I had always been drawn to the arts, I veered towards international affairs and legal studies as a means for social change. It was only after a study abroad program in London, where I was exposed to the British Asian arts scene, that I felt inspired to make art that reflected my interests and identity. I created a theatre company when I returned from the United Kingdom in the Bay Area, Arth, and when we sold out our first show to 400 people, I realized the audience was there. People were interested in my stories. That’s when I decided to pursue a career in film.

I think without seeing yourself and your stories reflected around you, you do not find the freedom to pursue your true identity and calling.

NYFA: Can you share with us some ways in which you have collaborated with other multidisciplinary artists? Were these collaborations important in furthering your career as an artist?

ASH: I love collaborating across disciplines, and find it profoundly rewarding both as an artist and as a professional. I had the opportunity to work with multi-media artist Monica Bose in filming her performance art in Miami, and I really feel part of a larger community when I get to work across disciplines. I’ve been trained in Indian classical dance and love incorporating dance into my film work. I also really enjoy writing and sharing about the process behind documentary creation.

I think people from different disciplines have a way of seeing the same content in a different dimension and that gives additional depth to the work.

NYFA: Do you have any advice for artists who are looking to share their personal story in the hopes of inspiring large social change but who do not know where to start?

ASH: I think the hardest part of sharing your personal story is that when people reject it, it feels like they are rejecting you. This is true if you are a writer or a video producer or a painter. Art is always hard because it’s a reflection of your identity in so many ways, but it’s even harder when it’s a personal story that’s already fraught with vulnerability, like stories of trauma.

My advice is to first step back and ask yourself if you want/need to tell this story. I’ve often found telling my story to be key to personal growth and very cathartic and so whether it’s accepted in a film festival or publication, I was happy to tell it.

Second, do you want to put this story out there? Artists can have personal projects that they don’t share and I think it’s worth asking especially with sensitive subject matters if it makes sense to put this out into the public. How would a public critique or rude comment on YouTube make you feel?

Lastly, connecting to community and other artists can often make this process easier and help through the journey of not only producing the work, but also the much harder process of sharing it and finding the right channels for distribution.

NYFA: Tell us about your role at WITNESS. What projects are you working on?

ASH: I currently lead communications at WITNESS. It’s incredibly exciting to work with a team of like-minded people globally who are using video for social change. The role of video and tech has changed so much over the last few decades, and it’s both fun and challenging to be on top of the wave.

I’m currently working on designing and drawing more attention to our reports and research on deepfakes, misinformation, and AI. I’m also excited to be working with the Equal Voice Network in the Rio Grande, to film stories of activists in the border community. As an immigrant, it’s work I’m quite interested in, but also an area of the country and immigrant history I am unfamiliar with so I’m learning a lot. So many of the issues people in those areas face have nothing to do with being an immigrant but are issues of people in neglected areas in the country that have had one-dimensional media attention. So rather than just talking about visas and deportation, there are very deep historic injustices around education and housing that particularly affect those border communities. I am excited to learn more and share with you in the future.

- Interview Conducted by Alicia Ehni, Program Officer at NYFA Learning

About Ambika Samarthya-Howard Ambika Samarthya-Howard is a video producer and currently Head of Communications at WITNESS. She was formerly the Head of Communications for Praekelt.org. She worked as a senior producer in community television in Brooklyn, with the BBC Media Action in Nigeria as a broadcast TV Trainer and with UNICEF as a Communications Specialist. She led the content curation and writing for the Medium Publication Mobile For Good, and has spoken about social good projects and inclusivity at a range of conferences globally, winning best poster at the recent University of London’s Behavior Change Conference. She co-authored two chapters in the recently published book Affordability Issues Surrounding the Use of ICT for Development and Poverty Reduction.

This interview is part of the ConEdison Immigrant Artist Program Newsletter #117. Subscribe to this free monthly e-mail for artist’s features, opportunities, and events.

Photos from top to bottom: Behind the scenes shot of Jalobayu during Art Basel-Miami Beach, Photo by Peter Samarthya-Howard; Courtesy of Ambika Samarthya-Howard

“Being an immigrant makes you see things from a different perspective, and that’s something employers, jurors in open calls, or gallerists may value.”

Luiza Teixeira-Vesey was born and raised in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She is a Designer and Marketing Associate at The New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) and works directly on the design of the Immigrant Artist Program Newsletter. Teixeira-Vesey is also an Art Historian focused on the influence of Afro-Brazilian religions in feminism, art, and popular culture in Brazil. Read on to learn more about her role in IAP and her experiences as an immigrant arts professional in New York. 

NYFA: Can you tell us a little bit about your projects as a designer/illustrator? Are you currently working on any projects?

Luiza Teixeira-Vesey: My life in design is a product of my passion for books. My first full-time job was as an art director for a small publishing house in Rio. It’s a funny story because I didn’t apply to be a designer; I was actually trying to be an illustrator for children’s books! Later I’d illustrate two published books for kids, but I consider myself very lucky that Laura van Boekel, the editor in chief, invited me to be a designer instead. That job was the foundation of my career; I learned so much, not only about book design but literature, writing, work ethic… Laura was a wonderful mentor!

I rarely work with printed publications nowadays and my career as an illustrator has been on pause for a few years. I like digital a lot but seeing my work on paper gives me an extra joy. I was beside myself when the art catalog NYFA made for Artists as Innovators exhibition came back from the printers.  

NYFA: Can you tell us about your work at NYFA? What is your role regarding the IAP Newsletter?

LTV: As you know, NYFA is a small organization with people that are very driven and passionate about what they do, so we all end up wearing lots of hats. I do most of the design work for NYFA, and also assist with the monitoring of Classifieds and their design services for advertisers, along with other marketing efforts for all of our programs. This is where the IAP Newsletter comes in. My job is to help the Learning team make the newsletter as reader-friendly and relevant as possible, using email marketing data and statistics to make informed decisions. Some of this data analysis led to its redesign last year.

NYFA: What was your first impression when you first came to New York?

LTV: I remember thinking there were way too many people everywhere and that was very disorienting. I come from Rio de Janeiro, I’m used to big cities, but nothing can prepare you for the speed at which things happen in New York. I was also amazed that suddenly I had live access to all these works of art that I had only previously seen in books. I’ll never forget the first time I entered a public library: I couldn’t believe Americans had access to so much culture for free!

NYFA: Did you face any challenges when first arriving in the city? How did you overcome them?

LTV: Plenty! But I am very fortunate because I didn’t come here alone. My husband is from New York and his family took me in as one of their own. That helped a lot while I was adapting to a whole new life. Professionally, though, I had to figure things out myself. When you move to a new country, your whole previous professional life almost vanishes, so I basically had to start from zero. It was very difficult and it takes a huge emotional toll on you.

Going back to school, for an M.A., helped me regain a sense of belonging. Finding activities related to Brazil and the Portuguese language was also very helpful. I became a volunteer at The Metropolitan Museum of Art and that opened several doors for me in the art world. I was in the visitor services department and my job was to provide information about The Met (and, a lot of times, other museums as well) to Portuguese-speaking patrons. So it was basically 3 hours a week that I had dedicated to talking about art and meeting wonderful people in one of my favorite places in New York! Plus, it was one of my fellow volunteers that told me about an opening at The Morgan Library–my first art-related job in the US.

NYFA: Any advice for emerging immigrant artists?

LTV: Don’t try to tackle this city by yourself. Find your peers. And by peers, I don’t mean people that come from the same place as you (though that also helps), but people that have the same drive as you. Also, be proud of your roots. Being an immigrant makes you see things from a different perspective, and that’s something employers, jurors in open calls, or gallerists may value. Last but not least: apply for the Immigrant Artist Mentoring Program!

NYFA: As a Brazilian arts professional, what do you think about Brazilian art (art made in Brazil as well as art made by Brazilian artists) in particular, and Latinx art in general, in New York?

LTV: When it comes to major retrospectives, I cannot complain at all. Since I’ve moved here, we had Lygia Clark and Tarsila do Amaral at The MoMA, Helio Oiticica at The Whitney, and Lygia Pape at The Met Breuer. There’s also plenty going on in terms of music. Brasil Summerfest brings in wonderful musicians every year, for example. The same goes for Latinx art in general. New York even has a whole museum dedicated to it, El Museo del Barrio! It’s great to see that the diaspora is looking after their own in the art world.

NYFA: Are there any challenges particular to Brazilian/Latinx artists in New York?

LTV: There are challenges that artists from all peripheric countries deal with when approaching the mainstream art world: how do you break through the stereotype? There’s this sense that we must always be addressing the struggles of our home country or the struggles of ourselves as immigrants. But maybe we want to make abstract art or experimental theater or classical music, and when that happens, there’s always someone to say you’re not being Latinx enough. But we’re slowly making progress and showing that Latinx art can be any kind of art.

- Interview Conducted by Alicia Ehni, Program Officer at NYFA Learning

About Luiza Teixeira-Vesey Born and raised in Rio de Janeiro, Luiza Teixeira-Vesey (née Luiza Costa Teixeira) is a Designer and Marketing Associate at The New York Foundation for the Arts and an Art Historian focused on the influence of Afro-Brazilian religions in feminism, art, and popular culture in Brazil. She holds a master’s degree in Art History and Criticism from Stony Brook University; a B.A. in Advertising from Universidade Federal Fluminense in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; a specialization in Art and Culture from Universidade Cândido Mendes, also in Rio de Janeiro; and communication design training from the Fine Arts School of the University of Lisbon, in Lisbon, Portugal. Luiza has published two children’s books as an illustrator, A escola que eu quero pra mim (Ao Livro Técnico, 2011) and Amor de Mãe d’Água (Escrita Fina Edições, 2011).

This interview is part of the ConEdison Immigrant Artist Program Newsletter #111. Subscribe to this free monthly e-mail for artist’s features, opportunities, and events.

Image: Photo by Doris Tamai