Tunde Wey was selected as the Taft Museum of Art’s 2024 Duncanson Artist-in-Residence, the Program’s First Chef.
The Taft Museum of Art is pleased to announce the 2024 Duncanson Artist-in-Residence, Tunde Wey. Tunde Wey is a Nigerian immigrant artist, writer, and chef working at the intersection of food and the political economy. He will lead public programs, teach workshops, and visit schools across Greater Cincinnati from April 13–27, 2024.
Wey will join the museum as the 37th resident of the Duncanson Artist-in-Residence program. The award-winning program elevates the profile of contemporary Black and Brown artists.
Public Programs & Events
Welcoming Night | Duncanson Artist-in-Residence
Saturday, April 13 | 6 p.m. – 7 p.m.
Celebrate the kickoff of Tunde Wey’s residency on this special night with a meet and greet, remarks by Duncanson Program Manager Kareem Simpson, a reading from Cincinnati and Mercantile Library Poet Laureate Yalie Saweda Kamara, and more. Light bites and drinks will be available. Free valet parking.
Free event. Registration required. Includes admission to the current special exhibitions African Modernism in America and A Breath of Fresh Air: Nature Inspires Rarely Seen Works from the Taft Collection, and collection galleries.
Inspired by Duncanson | A Culinary Evening with Tunde Wey
Wednesday, April 17 | 5:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.
Delight in an evening of mingling, delicious food, and celebration showcasing the Taft’s 2024 Duncanson Artist-in-Residence, culinary artist, and writer Tunde Wey.
Join Wey for a Q&A, explore the galleries, snap a picture in the most epic “photo booth” (a.k.a. Duncanson Foyer), and enjoy complimentary light bites specially curated by AfroMeals’s Chef Gabi Odebode paired with wines from Skeleton Root at the cash bar.
Free event. Registration is not required. Includes admission to the current special exhibitions African Modernism in America and A Breath of Fresh Air: Nature Inspires Rarely Seen Works from the Taft Collection, and collection galleries.
Over Drinks | A Conversation with Tunde Wey and Yvette Simpson
Off-Site Event – PAR-Projects | 1646 Hoffner Street, Cincinnati 45223 (Northside)
Thursday, April 18 | 6 p.m. – 8 p.m.
Using food, spirits, and wine as an underlining theme, the Taft’s 2024 Duncanson-Artist-in Residence Tunde Wey and former Cincinnati council member Yvette Simpson will discuss economic concepts introduced in Tim Barker’s essay Other People’s Blood. The pair will explore practical implications in Cincinnati and then lead a Q&A about food, capitalism, and their intersectionality with race.
Free event. Registration required.
Documentary Screening | Hard to Swallow
Off-Site Event – Esquire Theatre | 320 Ludlow Avenue, Cincinnati, OH, 45220 (Clifton)
Saturday, April 20 | 2:30 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Hard To Swallow is a poetic food series chronicling the life and perspective of Nigerian culinary artist and writer Tunde Wey, the Taft’s 2024 Duncanson Artist-in-Residence. Essayistic and experimental, the series recounts Wey’s burgeoning career while building a critique of the social structures that disenfranchise Black people globally. In partnership with Cincinnati Black Pride, the screening will follow with a Q&A session with Tunde Wey and co-creator Theo Schear.
Free event. Registration required.
Panel Discussion | Cincinnati Chefs
Off-Site Event – Findlay Market | 1801 Race St, Cincinnati, OH 45202 (OTR)
Sunday, April 21 | 1 p.m. – 3 p.m.
Enjoy an afternoon of eating and exploration with the Taft’s 2024 Duncanson Artist-in-Residence, culinary artist, and writer Tunde Wey alongside Black chefs, including Chef Jeff Harris (Nolia), Chef Gabi Odebode (AfroMeals), and Chef Mona Bronson-Fuqua (Je Nais Se Fuqua), with specializations from New Orleans cuisine to West African to food waste and food insecurity respectively. Join these experts for a panel discussion, followed by samples of their cuisine!
Free event. Registration is not required.
Immersive Experience | Privileged Dinner
Saturday, April 27 | 6 p.m. – 7 p.m.
Join the Taft’s 2024 Duncanson Artist-in-Residence, culinary artist, and writer Tunde Wey in partnership with Wave Pool for an evening exploring issues of race, class, and justice using food as the medium—merging a social practice art project with social experimentation.
Free event. Registration required.
About Tunde Wey
Tunde Wey’s work is known for engaging systems of power from the vantage point of the marginalized other. His work focuses on how economics and finance impact the working-class Black community globally. Wey uses art, media, food, and dining spaces to confront disparities in material conditions and attempts interventions to address these socially constructed inequalities.
During his time in Cincinnati, Wey will expand his canon of work by focusing on the endemic disparities of business funding to the Black and Brown communities. He will also explore access to these resources. The work will culminate in a public and immersive experience to celebrate the closing of the residency.
Wikipedia | Website | Instagram
Related Article: Meet the 2023 Duncanson Artist-in-Residence
About the Duncanson Artist-in-Residence Program
Established in 1986 by the Taft Museum of Art and the Robert S. Duncanson Society, this program honors the achievements of contemporary Black artists working in various disciplines. The program honors the relationship between African American painter Robert S. Duncanson and his patron, Nicholas Longworth, who commissioned Duncanson to paint landscape murals in the foyer of his home, now the Taft Museum of Art.
About the Duncanson Society
The Robert S. Duncanson Society was founded in 1986 by the late Doris Rankin Sells, the late William Joel McCray, and Ruth K. Meyer to affirm an ongoing Black presence within the structure of the Taft Museum of Art and to celebrate Robert S. Duncanson’s artistic contributions. As part of this work, the museum is strengthening the Duncanson Society by adding new members to increase the region’s diverse artistic stewardship and advocacy.
Related Article: Meet the 2022 Duncanson Artist-in-Residence
About the Taft Museum of Art
The Taft Museum of Art is a landmark in downtown Cincinnati, where art and history live. Built around 1820 as a private home for several of Cincinnati’s most prominent citizens, the Taft Museum of Art is now one of America’s finest small art museums. It holds National Historic Landmark status for its historic house and Duncanson murals.
Guests can always enjoy special exhibitions, the historic outdoor garden, the Museum Shop and Lindner Family Café, events and programming for all ages, and complimentary on-site parking. Everything is under one roof, culminating in a one-of-a-kind, multi-sensory experience that puts you at the center of art and history.
Support for the Duncanson Society
The residency sponsors include Ohio National Financial Services and The P&G Fund of the Greater Cincinnati Foundation. Morgan and Eddie Rigaud generously provide artist accommodations.
Operating support is provided by the museum’s season funders, ArtsWave, the Ohio Arts Council, The HB, EW, FR Luther Charitable Foundation, Fifth Third Bank, and Trustee. The Western & Southern Financial Fund enables the museum to offer free admission on Sundays. The Art Bridges Foundation’s Access for All program allows the museum to offer free admission on Mondays.
The Voice of Your Customer provides media support.
Related Article: Meet the 2021 Duncanson Artist-in-Residence
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Photos provided by Jonathan Peterson
