Artful Storytelling was an all-female panel discussion that took place at the Nautilus Hotel during Miami Art Week 2018. Featured panelists engaged in an intimate conversation exploring storytelling across various platforms, including visual art and digital media.  Panelists explored the evolving modes of artist representation as they relate to the contemporary art market, and the trends, both digital and analog, in the industry.

The panel discussion was programmed as part of INVISIBLE, a series of soft-sculpture totems by artist Suzy Kellems Dominik that surrealistically present the female body and investigate the social and cultural implications of beauty and age, on view at the Nautilus Hotel during Miami Art Week.  INVISIBLE features five, eleven-foot female totems rendered in cotton-knit and wool that simultaneously subvert the banality of the sock puppet and memorialize the female form.  The totems are illuminated by a white-neon caption rendered in the artist’s handwriting stating: “for without feet, one cannot escape.” Springing from a profound interest in chronicling personal, autobiographical experience through art, the series of soft-sculptures reflect the physical particularities of the aging female body, nonetheless reclaiming their agency in an unabashed exhibition of the private-made-public.

About the Panelists

Suzy Kellems Dominik is a multi-disciplinary artist and emotional autobiographer known for her fearlessly confrontational work. The deliberately feminist themes she explores are realized through various mediums and serve to dissect the most intimate moments of human relationships. Kellems Dominik seeks to encourage the amplification of strong female voices with a focus on self-empowerment, pleasure, and the private-made-public.  Her extensive and varied body of work is underscored by a profound empathy for the vulnerability of the human condition and for the principles that underlie our efforts to

connect, communicate, and commune. Kellems Dominik’s work is characterized by her diligent research of our culture’s visual traditions, societal taboos, religious legacy, and the body of the individual. She often uses her own body to expose rigidly antiquated social constructs and to examine the role of female sensuality and agency in subversion of patriarchal social and aesthetic conventions. Drawing on the endlessly expressive qualities of film, performance, photography, and sculpture, Kellems Dominik explores objectification and societal expectations, human trauma, female sexuality, agency, and her own experience of loss and survival.

Karla Ferguson is the Founder and Principal Advisor of the Yeelen Group an award-winning contemporary art dealer, art collector, creative designer, attorney and curator. Born in Kingston, Jamaica and educated in political science, international relations, international business, and law at Florida International University, La Sorbonne, and Tulane University School of Law, respectively, she has curated ground breaking and important contemporary art exhibitions and works with critically important contemporary artists focusing on social practice and expanding the understanding of culture globally and its relation to the canon of Art History. Karla has built and curated art collections of prominent CEOs, corporate clients, entrepreneurs and those new to art collecting, applying her knowledge and creativity to each project she empowers her clients and allows them to contribute to important dialogue taking place in contemporary art practice.

Idalia Salsamendi is a business strategist, social media consultant, and founder of the Realization Podcast.  With extensive experience in PR and talent management, Idalia opened her company in 2016 with business strategy for both brands and influencers at its core.  In a world saturated with social influencers, Idalia distinguishes the glitter from the gold, therefore leaving her mark on the industry through authenticity.  Known for being selective towards the types of projects she engages, the mantra for her company is to inspire, inform, and empower.  Also an enthusiastic public speaker, Idalia makes time to speak at key international conferences to share her knowledge of the space while also gaining a wider and more global perspective about the industry.  It is through these speaking engagements that Idalia strives to foster a community that values greater knowledge and the kind of efficient and kindly professional integrity that ensures the survival and growth of the digital age.  

 About the Moderator

A self-described entrepreneur, Kristina Adduci is Founder and Editor-in-Chief at Art Zealous, an online platform dedicated to bringing the latest art exhibitions, daily news and developments from galleries, museums and events to the next generation of art collectors. Kristina is passionate about engaging young art patrons and making the art market more accessible to them by reporting on stories that will inspire them to start their art journey. Kristina has served on the American Folk Art Museum Young Folk board, the Whitney Contemporaries, and the Guggenheim Collectors Council.  Kristina is also head of curation at Workville, a co-working space in New York City and has sourced over 100 artworks from local emerging artists for the company.