Please join us for a special Artist Talk featuring some of the artists exhibiting in Hilos de Identidad on Saturday, November 14, 2026, 2pm.

The afternoon will include a tour of the exhibition and featured conversations with:

• Peter Daniel Bernal

• Juan Martinez

• Elton Monroy Duran

• Kimberly LaVonne

• Nora Chapa Mendoza

• Ivan Montoya

• Julianna Sanroman Rojas 

• Vito J. Valdez

This event is in partnership and hosted by the College of Fine, Performing, and Communcation Arts, and Wayne State University Alumni Association.

Light snacks and beverages will be provided. An email including parking suggestions will be sent the week of the event.

Questions? Contact April Hazamy at ahazamy@wayne.edu

Please RSVP by November 10, 2026.

RSVP: https://events.wayne.edu/2026/11/14/hilos-de-identidad-artist-talk-108323

(this event is free and open to the public. Reservations help to determine numbers and planning for future events)

Wayne State's Univeristy Visual Art Education and Art Therapy is please to present their annual student exhibition, Reflections at the Art Department Gallery from November 6 thorugh November 20, 2026.

The exhibition features artwork using a veriety of media and explores the feeling of stability. The artworks reflect on personal and conceptual topics such as health and awareness.

Refecltions includes work by the following::

Kiera Easley, Kendra Ebel, Ji Lee, Mary Koni, Akil Marjani, Luis Garcia Martinez, Whitney Miller, Margaret O’Sullivan, Emma Palter, Emily Siegel-Hison, Carlene Solar, Crystal Spratt, Mechelle Tansil, and Azriel Wotton.

Hilos de Identidad

September 18 through December 12, 2026
Opening reception: Friday, September 18, 5-8PM

Rooted in the heartbeat of close-knit barrios, spaces shaped by tradition, family, memory, and mutual care, Latino artists living and working across Detroit transform the uncertainties of everyday life into bold declarations of presence and pride. Hilos de Identidad: Latino Voices of Detroit honors the ways art becomes refuge and resonance: the vibrant colors of celebration, the weight of untold stories, all held within a city already defined by resilience.

This exhibition celebrates the impact of Latino artists, carrying their cultural inheritance and artistic legacy into a space where the city’s past and future intersect, contributing to the city’s ongoing transformation. At a time when identity and belonging are increasingly called into question, their work becomes a cultural footprint in motion. 

Exhibition includes work by the following artists:
Diana Alva, Peter Daniel Bernal, Elton Monroy Duran, Jacinto Herrera, Mary Laredo Herbeck, Alvaro Jurado, Kimbery Lavone, Juan Martinez, Nora Chapa Mendoza, Ivan Montoya, Irene Perez, Dalia Reyes, Julianna Sanroman Rojas, Vito J. Valdez, and George Vargas.

Works by Brendan Fernandes

curated by Kelly Kivland

February 5 through April 24, 2027
Opening Reception: Friday, February 5, 5-8PM

Brendan Fernandes (b. 1979, Nairobi, Kenya) is an internationally recognized Canadian artist working at the intersection of dance and visual arts. Currently based in Chicago, his practice addresses issues of race, queer culture, migration, protest, and other forms of collective movement. Constantly seeking to create new spaces and forms of agency, Fernandes’ work often takes on hybrid forms: part ballet, part queer dance party, part political protest always rooted in collaboration and fostering solidarity. Fernandes is a graduate of the Whitney Independent Study Program (2007) and has been the recipient of numerous awards, including a Robert Rauschenberg Residency Fellowship (2014), a Smithsonian Artist Research Fellowship (2020), an Artadia Award (2019), a Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Grant (2019), and most recently, the Platform Award (2024). In 2024, he was also honored with the Creative Voice Award by Arts Alliance Illinois. His work has been presented at prestigious venues such as the 2019 Whitney Biennial at the Whitney Museum of American Art (New York), the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago (Chicago), the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (New York), the Museum of Modern Art (New York), the J. Paul Getty Museum (Los Angeles), the National Gallery of Canada (Ottawa), and the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal (MAC), among many others. Fernandes is an Associate Professor in the Department of Art, Theory, and Practice at Northwestern University. He is represented by Monique Meloche Gallery in Chicago and Susan Inglett Gallery in New York. Recent and upcoming projects include performances and solo presentations at the Pulitzer Arts Foundation (St. Louis, MO), the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver (Denver, CO), the Fabric Workshop and Museum (Philadelphia, PA), and Prospect.6 (New Orleans, LA). In spring 2026, a major new commission and solo exhibition will debut at the Art Denver (Denver, CO), the Fabric Workshop and Museum (Philadelphia, PA), and Prospect.6.