SHEER CELEBRATES THE OPENING NIGHT OF THE SPRING 2025 AFFORDABLE ART FAIR FEATURING WORKS BY NIA WINSLOW, ALANIS FORDE, AND ASARI AIBANGBEE

SHEER celebrated the opening night of the Spring 2025 Affordable Art Fair NYC at the Metropolitan Pavilion with a vibrant booth featuring mixed media works by Nia Winslow, Alanis Forde, and Asari Aibangbee and curated by Bianca Jean-Pierre. Thank you to everyone who joined us for an unforgettable night and to support these emerging artists. We look forward to returning in the Fall!

Below are some special moments from the opening night captured by none other than Serge Fils-Aime.

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ARTISTS TO KNOW: MARWA ELTAHIR

Photographed by Avery Savage

As part of our ongoing collaboration with The Shed to spotlight artists from the Open Call: Portals exhibition (June 27–August 24), SHEER spent time inside the immersive installation of visual artist, writer, and producer Marwa Eltahir: 99 Names: My Liberation Is Tied To Yours.

Her installation creates a sacred, sensory space for reflection. Modeled after majlis-style communal seating found along sub-Saharan caravan routes, the work invites audiences to rest on woven rugs beneath sheer white curtains, surrounded by sound, stillness, and prayer. A projected film plays in a loop, opening with the Azan and unfolding into spoken word narration and original composition.

ARTIST & DESIGNER TO KNOW: MEL CORCHADO

Photography by Avery Savage

SHEER had the chance to visit the Brooklyn studio of fashion designer and artist Mel Corchado ahead of her exhibition debut. Mel’s practice is rooted in slowness and intention. Whether she’s sewing by hand, gathering with community, or experimenting with unconventional materials like sugar, her work invites us to think beyond product and into process, care, and cultural memory.

Her installation for Portals, titled $TICKY $IN$, features garments made of hardened sugar. These glimmering, fragile structures explore the material’s ties to colonial labor, Puerto Rican identity, and the shifting nature of time. In person, they feel less like clothes and more like quiet vessels of transformation.

ARTISTS TO KNOW: ALANIS FORDE

Photography by Shalaina Joy

As we approach the Affordable Art Fair Spring Edition opening this Wednesday, March 19th in NYC, we are excited to spotlight Alanis Forde, one of SHEER's exhibiting artists. Alanis is a figurative portraiture and surrealist artist who lives and works in Barbados. She works mainly with oil paint and collage on traditional canvas. The use of unrefined brushstrokes, dotted textures, patterns and vibrant colors allows the viewer’s eye to be in constant motion and transports them into a paradisiacal dystopia.