Becoming Black: The Immigrant Experience

Our April 2024 opening exhibition features two acclaimed regional artists - Jozimar Matimano and Becky Field - whose life and work depicts the immigrant experience to consider how people of color from all over the world, ranging from Africa to South Asia and the Middle East, come to be seen as Black or an ethnic minority when settling in majority-white America. Becoming part of our country’s multicultural community is not an easy process, one in which individuals must find and forge altogether new homes and families of choice. Self and community reflections on this journey radiate from the colorful, moving images these two artists have graciously shared with us at SAACC.

The first, Jozimar Matimano, is a fine art painter who specializes in large-scale oil portraits and paintings. Matimano was born in Butembo in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo where he also grew up, moved to Uganda at ten and then to Manchester, NH through the International Institute of New England in 2016. Interested in drawing and illustration from an early age, he began painting in 2018 as a way to express himself by telling stories through painting. Pursuing the fine arts as a career, he attended the Institute of Art at New England College and received his Associate in Liberal Arts in 2023. Matimano has jointly exhibited at Boston’s SoWa Gallery and solo in NH at the Proctor Academy, The Derryfield School, Manchester Community College, and Riverview Artist Studio.

The second, Becky Field, is an award-winning documentary photographer and educator based in Concord, NH who focuses on the cultural and religious diversity of the Granite State. She holds a certificate from NH Institute of Art - as well as a doctorate in wildlife ecology - and further studied photography at Maine Media Workshops, Center for Photography at Woodstock, and Photographic Resource Center, as well as participated in workshops for the United Nations. Field previously exhibited her photography at the University of New Hampshire (UNH), NHTI Community College, NH Institute of Art, NH Society of Photographic Artists, Southern New Hampshire University, and, with Matimano in 2022, at the Carriage House Gallery at Kimball Jenkins