PHOTO | ASHLEY MAHONEY

“Joy’ curatorial consultant Carla Aaron-Lopez.

Elder Gallery of Contemporary Art’s current lineup celebrates women.  

“Joy” and “Who are your people?” feature five women artists. The former features Elder Gallery curatorial consultant Carla Aaron-Lopez as well as Erin Comerford Miller, Lo’Vonia Parks and Windy O’Connor. It is a celebration of collaboration between artists, particularly women.

“Who are your people?” is Makayla Binter’s debut solo exhibition at Elder Gallery, where she signed earlier this year. It challenges the way physical appearance plays the dominating role for how people are perceived by society.

“As we walk into spaces, we are often preceded by our bodies instead of who we are as individuals,” Binter said. “Every intersectional identity that we have is often put aside. This show is just what would happen if all of those things were visible at one time – our race, our gender, our sexuality, our ethnicity – all of those shadows as mirrors that not everyone gets to see all the time.”

Both shows run through Dec. 4. An exhibition experience with the artists is scheduled for Sept. 25 from 12- 5 p.m.

‘Joy’
Connecting creatives brings Aaron-Lopez joy.

“When we choose to support others, we choose to see their value, and every woman in this show sees the value of working with people and building people up,” Aaron-Lopez said.

The North Mecklenburg High School graduate left Charlotte to pursue a bachelor’s degree in graphic design from North Carolina Central University in 2001, followed by a master’s degree in photography and a master’s in printmaking at Savannah College of Art & Design in Georgia. In addition to Elder Gallery, her work has been displayed at the Mint Museum and Harvey B. Gantt Center for African American Arts + Culture in addition to BLKMRKTCLT, a local artist collective she is ingrained in.

Aaron-Lopez’s work can also be found in community art across the city, such as the West End mural on Beatties Ford Road. Yet she is more than a featured artist. She brings people together. Aaron-Lopez earned a Cultural Vision Grant from the Arts & Science Council to produce “LOCAL/STREET,” which features over 40 artists of color and white allies at the Mint Museum Randolph earlier this year.

“Joy” is the latest wave of her collaborative spirit.  

“I wanted to celebrate the joy of collaborating with people, because that has become the biggest and most successful thing for me out of 2020 into 2021,” she said. “Everyone has a completely different style from the other, but what you don’t know is that in the background, throughout all of these talks, we’re definitely supporting one another through some very difficult times, because it is hard to produce artwork. It’s hard to work with others. It’s hard to lean in and consider yourself of value. With ‘Joy,’ it's my hope, and I hope the same for even the artists, when you get to speak with them you experience the joy of what it’s like to work with someone who's completely different than you.”

PHOTO | ASHLEY MAHONEY

Makayla Binter’s “Who are your people” is on display at Elder Gallery.

‘Who are your people?’
Binter hit the ground running in 2020 when she graduated Davidson College, where she was a track and field athlete with a degree in biology and studio. Binter used her craft to ask tough questions and inspire conversation while enrolled at Davidson.

She created the Mural Panel Project to address anti-Semitic tweets by two Davidson students that supported the Ku Klux Klan in 2018. Two years later, the Mural Panel Project landed on the steps of the Levine Museum of the New South in response to the Black Lives Matter movement.

Binter’s work expanded to include murals across the city, which earned her Emerging City Champion status through 880 Cities and the Knight Foundation to establish a mentoring program through art along the Beatties Ford Road corridor. She is also a Charlotte Equity Fellow, which also uses art to engage community in Historic West End.

“My show is a dialogue,” Binter said. “What happens when all of these different entities, our identities, our past experiences, our love, our fears, our passions, what happens when all these things are layered on top of one another?”

Said Elder Gallery owner and director Sonya Pfeiffer in a statement: “I'm also thrilled, almost beyond expression, to mount the first exhibition for Makayla Binter. She is a dynamo, whose passion, purpose and talent reminds me that we should trust the younger generation with everything.”

Binter is pursuing a master’s degree in urban design from UNC Charlotte and will graduate next fall. She is working on a 485-foot street mural in Matthews, as well as painting a basketball court with her class.

“I feel like I am missing other projects, but that is all that is coming to mind right now,” Binter said with a laugh.

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