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This June Dezjuan graduated from High School. He has been accepted into Purchase College’s School Of Arts + Design. While he has received some scholarship funding, it is far from the amount he needs to make college and arts training a reality.
Dezjuan's GoFundMe campaign:
Please take your time learning about the amazingly talented Dezjuan and please also consider donating to our fundraiser for Dezjuan.
So much has happened since Kasuri hosted Dezjuan’s first photography exhibition on May 29, 2021. Held during COVID and in the year following the George Floyd Uprisings, it was a rare moment, when our community could come together and share space together. The event was a fever dream of youthful energy and Dezjuan’s portraits were a welcome and precious opportunity to see art during a time of isolation and malaise.
It has always been our practice and dream to support Black artists, and I can't think of a more radical act of love than to support a young Black, queer artist like Dezjuan Smith. Though born in Florida, Dezjuan came to Hudson as a small child and grew up here. As a teen he bacame involved in a host of creative pursuits as well as social justice work and community organizing.
I met Dezjuan when he was 14, while he gave a speech during one of the many rallies held here in Hudson in response to the epidemic of deaths of black people at the hands of police. I invited him to come vistt us across the street at KASURI. Everyone quickly fell in love with him and KASURI became his second home. Over the ensuing years we have all watched him grow, and see his engagement with Photography evolve and flourish. Lots of people take pictures and call themselves photographers. Dezjuan is the real deal.
-Jonathan Ofsofsky (Creative Director and GM at Kasuri)
This June Dezjuan graduated from High School. He has been accepted into Purchase College’s School Of Arts + Design. While he has received some scholarship funding, it is far from the amount he needs to make college and arts training a reality.
Please consider donating to our fundraiser for Dezjuan. There are various ways you can donate:
Dezjuan's GoFundMe campaign:
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