
On View: June 16 – October 31, 2022
Location: MoCADA Abolition House, House 7A Nolan Park, Governors Island
Workshop Dates: TBD
SUMMARY
The Supremacy Project addresses the systemic oppression and violence BIPOC families and communities are fighting to end. Supremacy is the driving force behind the judicial, legislative, and executive inequities that we refuse to succumb to. This work serves as a reminder that our fiercest adversary is the system empowering those who violate us.
Using art as a vehicle for social justice, Supremacy project takes over the ground floor of MoCADA Abolition House on Governors Island which includes a dynamic indoor installation and a required banned-book reading room..
MUSEUM NOTES
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FEATURED ARTISTS

Julian Alexander (Artist)
Julian Alexander is a visual artist, Grammy Award-winning designer and founder of Brooklyn-based design studio, Slang Inc. His iconic album artwork and logos can be seen on packages that have sold over 100 Million copies worldwide. He started Supremacy Project in 2020.

Khadijat Oseni (Curator)
Creative alchemist & producer, Khadijat Oseni, subscribes to a simple formula – bringing great ideas and great people together to tell authentic, soulful stories. Khadijat has secured and managed content production for clients ranging from Showtime Networks to the UN Foundation and has been tapped as an influencer by brands, platforms & institutions including Ace Hotel, Tumblr, Brooklyn Museum, and NASA.
Contributing Artists
Julian Alexander is a visual artist, Grammy Award-winning designer and founder of Brooklyn-based design studio, Slang Inc. His iconic album artwork and logos can be seen on packages that have sold over 100 Million copies worldwide. He started Supremacy Project in 2020.
José Cabaço heads up Concepts and Storytelling at the adidas Creator Farm in Brooklyn, a design hub which brings together internal and external creatives from different disciplines to help shape the brand’s future. He is a Product Designer but throughout his career has transitioned to Art Director, Retail Designer, Graphic Designer, Illustrator, Photographer and Creative Director. This wide range of disciplines has provided him with a very unique opportunity to witness the journey of a product from its creation, all the way to the consumer’s hands. It has also shown him just how valuable of a story that journey is.
Mel D. Cole is a world renowned, award winning photographer with over 20 years of experience who is best known for his hip hop, press/editorial photography and much more. He is also the founder of Charcoal Pitch F.C – the first and only Black-owned, soccer specific, photography agency dedicated to creatively exploring soccer visually and educationally through a multiracial lens.
Steven John Irby (a.k.a. Steve Sweatpants), co-founder & director of Street Dreams magazine. Born in Brooklyn and raised in Queens, the majority of Irby’s work is derived from the endless source of inspiration found on his home turf. Shooting primarily in B/W, Irby, now an ambassador for Sony cameras, shoots poignant portraits and gritty cityscapes from unique perspectives. A street photographer with a masterful eye, creative composition and skillful lighting, his photos possess a crisp and stark contrast that makes the subjects seem like they’re about to pop out of the page.
Michael T. Boyd (born Chicago, Illinois) is a creative advertising professional working in New York City for more than 20 years. He applies similar psychology and method for shifting perceptions in his personal artwork. Michael adds, “I’m most curious about our motivations for adopting social constructs — largely without question. They might include collective fear, faith, preference, hate or bigotry.
Advocate of Voice. Doer of Language. Cyrus Aaron is a creative storyteller for theater, film, commercials, performance art, social commentary, and voice over. Recent credits include: Black Gotham Experience, BRIC, Brown with Blue (2020), Cadillac, HBO, Spotify, The Fire This Time Festival and The Shed.
Mahogany L. Browne is the Executive Director of JustMedia, a media literacy initiative designed to support the groundwork of criminal justice leaders and community members. This position is informed by her career as a writer, organizer, & educator. Browne has received fellowships from Agnes Gund, Air Serenbe, Cave Canem, Poets House, Mellon Research & Rauschenberg. She is the author of recent works: Chlorine Sky, Woke: A Young Poets Call to Justice, Woke Baby, & Black Girl Magic. Browne is the founder of the diverse lit initiative, Woke Baby Book Fair; and is excited about her latest poetry collection. I Remember Death By Its Proximity to What I Love is a book-length poem responding to the impact of mass incarceration on women and children). She is based in Brooklyn and is the first-ever Poet-in-Residence at the Lincoln Center.
Justin El makes up stories. Sometimes he writes them down. He is the author of a book of poems, titled JANUS, which can be found in digital format on Amazon. He writes to help others see themselves. You can find Justin walking around New York City, imagining the magical in the mundane.
Adeolu Osibodu (b.1997) is a self-taught photographer/photo artist from Lagos, Nigeria. Adeolu’s work explores a large sense of self-portraiture along with the fleetingness of time and its sentiments. His images portray a feeling of multi-reality and hallucination that seek to further explore life and its unique madness through light. In 2017, Adeolu
won the EyeEm Portraitist Award out of over 70K submissions. His award-winning images have since been exhibited globally and featured across platforms including Adobe, CNN, Communication Arts, People’s Stories Project and more.
SELECT WORKS

We The People
We The People is a series re-examining the American Constitution’s exclusion of Black people with the Three-Fifths clause. This phrase is juxtaposed with imagery by Nigerian photographer Adeolu Osibodu, of strong, vulnerable, complete people that conjure ancestral memories suspended in space and time. His images are paired with accompanying haikus rooted in the African tradition of call-and-response by Cyrus Aaron, Mahogany L. Browne and Justin el.

SUPREMACY: WHO PROTECTS ME FROM YOU?
Supremacy is the driving force behind the judicial, legislative and executive inequities that BIPOC communities refuse to succumb to. This work by artist Julian Alexander featuring photography by Steven John Irby, Mel D. Cole and José Cabaço serves as a reminder that our fiercest adversary is the system empowering those who violate us.

Lost Ones. Culture Found.
The Lost Ones. Culture Found. cover series by artist Michael T. Boyd reexamines the legacy of widely-known victims of police brutality and hate crimes. Each album cover is accompanied by haikus in the form of liner notes by poets Cyrus Aaron, Mahogany L. Browne and Justin El.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
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