FSP Billboard Project Showcasing Jose Dominguez

FSP Billboard Project Showcasing Jose Dominguez

In celebration of Franconia Sculpture Park’s 25th Anniversary, Franconia launched the FSP Billboard Project, a rotating curatorial and art platform to amplify artists of color in Minnesota.

In recognition of Franconia’s 2021 curatorial theme of “Authority & Visibility in Public Space,” this inaugural project makes visible the innovative creatives that contribute to Minnesota’s thriving and diverse cultural ecosystem. 

Located at the intersection of Highways 8 and 95 in rural Shafer, Minnesota, the 10 x 28 foot billboard asks visitors to Franconia and those in the local community to consider the critical question:

“How well prepared are you to meet the changes necessary to make the world a more human dwelling place.” Overlaid atop the yearbook-style portraits of twenty Black individuals, this project represents Black autonomy and self-determination. Featured from left to right are: Yasmeenah, Nance Musinguzi, Breon Jones, Caleb Johnson, Kenda Zellner-Smith, Cristian Ybarra, Zania Coleman, Roxanne Anderson, Shaina McCoy, Asha Long, Zede Harut, Destiny Roberts, Bobby Rogers, Felicia Perry, Junauda Petrus-Nasah, Ifrah Mansour, Atlese Robinson, Nadirah McGill

Curated by Somali-DJ, artist, curator and activist Yasmeenah, this site of reflection and contemplation is designed as a platform for emerging Minnesota artists of color to explore race and visibility in rural spaces. This first iteration will be on display until March 2022, followed by a billboard by visual artist Jose Dominguez.

About Yasmeenah

The ethereal and joyous Yasmeenah is a creative who is not afraid to reflect the times while prioritizing joy and celebration on the continuous path towards liberation. Yasmeenah is a first-generation Somali-American DJ, Curator, and Art Organizer based in South Minneapolis. Yasmeenah lives and examines the intersections of creation, music, queerness, and Blackness as she believes art is essential for radical movements.

Jose Dominguez: Coming in March 2022

In March 2022, Yasmeenah’s billboard will be replaced with Jose Dominguez’s piece “Happy to Be Here.” Born in Casa Grande, Arizona, the Minneapolis-based mixed media artist Jose Dominguez studied studio art at Winona State University. His kaleidoscopic paintings that incorporate whimsical imagery and text are visual riddles that are left open-ended for the viewers to keep coming back to. Says Dominguez: “This work revisits that child-like sense of wonder and adventure that comes from finding a unique place and building a fort and making good friends that grow to be like family, about having a place where you can be yourself, feel safe, and be vulnerable.” 


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