I think that in my case it is very important because a lot of youth gravitate to graffiti and street art. Yet there is a stigma that precedes graffiti – that it is an act of vandalism and it could be – but there are countless other roots and branches to this tree. This kind...Read More

“There are things you can do better in a mobile environment than you can with really big SLR’s” Stephen Alvarez In 2009 photographer Stephen Alvarez travelled to Madagascar for National Geographic to shoot a series for the magazine of the stone forest Tsingy de Bemaraha. The iconic works that were shot at that time, and...Read More

In many ways, it seems vital that art helps to house global diplomacy, because the practice of making and transferring cultural communication through design and craft has played a very large historic role in creating global networks and cultural exchange. Art is generous and can help us to communicate complex notions.Read More

This kind of cultural diplomacy is important,…some of the best education is traveling to a new place and meeting new people. Working with artists across Botswana, I learned so much about the local people and culture….I can’t speak for the people, but they seemed excited to meet with us and talk about the issues we...Read More

Participating in an Art in Embassies exchange simultaneously heightened my awareness of myself as an American artist and also as a global artist. Seeing myself through the eyes of my Batswana contemporaries as a representative of America awoke a desire to more directly engage American art forms including Amish quilting and New York School painting...Read More

“I had never been to Africa before and part of me believed that I might never travel to Africa. Seeing different cities in Botswana and traveling outside of the capital city gave me a rich and varied view of the culture and how people live in different parts of the country. Experiencing and absorbing another...Read More

“I do not know what impact this exchange may have on my art career, but I am immensely grateful for the opportunity to experience this rich Pacific culture. I am certain images and influences from this exchange will be appearing in my work”    Read More

Our work is the creation of an interpretation of the daily environment. On Wednesday, May 13, American artist and 2013 TED Fellow Ryan Holladay presented a lecture at the Pump House Gallery , a public contemporary exhibition space housed in a distinctive four story Victorian tower in the center of Battersea Park in London. Pump...Read More

“I’m a Rwandan-American artist and I spent my formative years living between Sub-Saharan Africa and the United States. Having a transnational identity has completely shaped my life as an artist… the flip side of that is that I’ve felt alienated because of my identity. Not everyone has the patience or interest in hearing a complicated...Read More

“What my work is about, is that it hides gender, race and class, so you’re forced to be confronted with something that is unfamiliar. It can’t be categorized.” Nick Cave – On May 28, 2015, American artist Nick Cave presented the second Contemporary Conversations lecture, an exciting new artist exchange program for Art in Embassies(AIE)...Read More

Art brings order to chaos. It gives it voice; it gives it a language.” – Eric Fischl In September 2015, artist Eric Fischl travelled to Ottawa to participate in the third installment of Contemporary Conversations, a series of public events organized by Art in Embassies (AIE), the Embassy of the United States in Ottawa, and...Read More

"Art exists within us. It’s about breaking down barriers. Every stitch from every person is like a thumbprint, and when the threads come together in my art, it’s a metaphor of how we’re all connected and related. Only it’s not just a metaphor, it’s the reality."Read More

"To me, this is the most exciting moment in the history of photography. The potential to explore things that we’ve never done in a still photograph are so great. . . I’ve been very conscious of using new technologies in the medium to push the medium outward …"Read More

“For me, travelling to new places and meeting people from different cultural backgrounds always enriches my art making progress. In the long run, these experiences in Suriname will begin to appear in my art form.”Read More

“We were thrilled to have Dan Namingha, a renowned Native American artist, share his work and experience with Chileans and represent the diversity that makes America the great country it is. ‎Art diplomacy makes a difference and is impactful. As I heard from many who participated in Dan’s events, art brings people together and promotes...Read More