Mariane Ibrahim

I've always been fascinated by Mexico, Mexican culture, without having been there.

I felt like there was something there for me.

I don't know.

I felt like I belonged in that sort of a space.

And being in Seattle also was a factor of me going there because I needed to get out of the U.S.

And the closest place that I felt completely immersed in a different culture was Mexico.

So after seeing the architecture and seeing the city, the vibrancy of the city, that's sort of a moment where I was like, I would very much love to have an art space here.

I think I was charmed by the diversity in terms of architecture and the spaces throughout different times and eras.

So Mexico came last, even though it should have been first.

But I think for me, in terms of the program that we are working with and the artists and the topic of the artists, it's a very Atlantic sort of a region.

If you put a compass in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean and you sort of make a circle, that is the regions that I'm very much interested.

whether they are, you know, from the Caribbean, West Africa, the US, and that connect with the Afro-Atlantic stories.

And so Mexico was a bit of a treasure map where I needed to reconnect with the Afro-Mestizos, you know, the African Mexican that has been

there and there are communities where you see that there is a very strong connection with the African, the preview, the first African communities that were brought and were in Mexico.

But the historical aspect of the Mexico and its relationship with Afro descent was something that fascinated me.

So it was like a puzzle that I was going to add in Mexico, which I'm still chasing.

I'm still chasing to find

that artist of African descent to be presented at the gallery.

So that has a little bit of, I don't know, a personal pursuit.

But I mostly like the enthusiasm of the audience.