Conceived and Produced by Murray Nossel
Paintings by Doug Safranek
In this one-of-kind immersive art exhibit blending storytelling, painting and music, 30 Harlem community members celebrate their mothers, and the women who nurtured them. Their faces -- rendered in majestic egg tempera -- gaze upon us as we enjoy an aural soundtrack that is a quilt of memories and testimonies… These are the stories of the newly arrived, of transplants, and of Harlemites whose families have been here for generations.
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April
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Cedric
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Bao-Zhen
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Calvin
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Charlene
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Ellen
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Sabine
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Emily
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Emmanuel
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Faith
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Irma
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Juaquina
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Juliet
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Kathleen
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Kia-Noelle
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Laini
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Lauren
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Maribel
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Marie
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Meldis
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Michael
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Mme. Ofelia
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Nasreen
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Nicole
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Rachel
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Taylor
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Vida
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Yessica
Enjoy the stories as you admire the faces of “Conduit”
The 30 portraits of “Conduit” are by the renowned realist painter Doug Safranek (ACA Galleries). Each 2’X2’ portrait is painted in the luminous egg tempera medium that dates back to the Middle Ages and the Florentine Renaissance.
The soundtrack of “Conduit” -- broadcast on a one-hour + loop in the gallery -- are full of moments of grace, fortitude, resilience and sacrifice… Gathered and crafted by the storytelling pioneer Murray Nossel, the stories are sound-designed by Justin Samaha with an original score by Barbara+Marco
New Community Engagement Model
The “Conduit” exhibit is designed to connect with children, families and adults in special ways. Our offering can include a storytelling workshop for docents and local educators led by Murray Nossel who teaches active listening, empathy, and personal agency through the special medium of mother stories. (Often partnering with the Open Society and the State Department, Murray has worked with communities around the world, using the process of telling one’s story to teach, heal and empower.)
Doug Safranek is also available to lead an art-focused workshop delving into the traditions and unique processes of egg tempera painting. Dating back to the Middle Ages and popularized in Florentine Renaissance, the medium was typically used for sacred and exalted subjects. It is moving that here the medium is used to render a true cross-section of American society -- young and old, and from many walks of life.
Conduit Assets Accompany the Show
An Educator’s Guide with practical lessons and games has been developed to serve as a learning tool for teachers, parents and elders. Young people learn how to interview their mother figures, and also how to begin to access their own mother stories. We make this guide available to all exhibitors as part of our offering.
A special part of the exhibit is the Mother Shrine where visitors are invited to contribute photos, poem and mementos of their own mom figures. A traveling version of the shrine is also included.
To increase accessibility to the show, the Mother Stories that are heard in the exhibit are simultaneously translated into either English or Spanish depending on the story source. An LED screen with the translation scroll is included.
This QR code can be used by museum visitors to access all the stories on the “Conduit” broadcast, with thumbnails of the corresponding portrait images to help zero in on individual stories.
Celebrate Diversity in Our Cities
Visitors to the show encounter a remarkable cross-section of Harlem and the Sugar Hill neighborhood at its core. All are gathered in one large gallery -- from recent immigrants and transplants, to Harlemites whose families have lived here for generations.
Indeed the “Conduit” show is a stunning embodiment of the diversity one of New York’s storied neighborhoods -- home to the Harlem Renaissance, and at the crossroads of a traditionally African American Harlem and Latino Washington Heights.
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Murray Nossel
Storytelling pioneer Murray Nosselis an author, improvisational actor, clinical psychologist, and Oscar-nominated documentary filmmaker. Often partnering with the Open Society, and the State Department, Murray has worked with disrupted communities and victims of violence in many parts of the world, teaching healing and empowerment through telling one’s story. In 2019 he founded the World Mother Storytelling Project, a non-profit that uses mother stories to teach, heal and empower communities.
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Doug Safranek
Painter Doug Safranek has lived and worked in Williamsburg Brooklyn for more than 30 years. He is known for his mastery of egg tempera techniques dating back to the Middle Ages and the Florentine Renaissance. His work is included in public and private collections around the country including the Arkansas Art Center, The Frye Art Museum, The Norton Museum of Art, The New-York Historical Society, The Museum of the City of NY, and The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Safranek is on the faculty of the Art Students League of New York and is represented by The ACA Galleries in New York City.
“As you linger with us, we welcome you to leave your own mom poems, photos and mementoes on our shrine at the end of the gallery. But most of all, we hope you will begin to remember your own mother and start telling her story.”
— MURRAY NOSSEL & DOUG SAFRANEK
“Conduit” is the first art exhibit created by the World Mother Storytelling Project, an arts and community enterprise that uses stories about mother figures to teach, heal and empower.
The show opened on June 5, 2024, at the Sugar Hill Children’s Museum of Art and Storytelling in New York City. Scheduled to close in August, it was extended to remain on view through October 27, 2024.