Words by Chris DanforthChicago’s Anthony Gallery is taking its distinctive curatorial vision across the Atlantic with the opening of a new space in Amsterdam. Founded by Isimeme “Easy” Otabor in 2019, Anthony Gallery is known for pairing buzzing and established artists, fostering cross-cultural dialogue, and reflecting Otabor’s personal perspective. Now, Amsterdam has become its second home. More than a gallery, the Amsterdam location aims to be a cultural hub, integrating music, design, and community engagement while connecting local and international artists. Otabor emphasizes that the gallery’s goal is to foster dialogue with Amsterdam’s creative ecosystem, not impose an outside voice. The launch features a collaborative exhibition by Tony Lewis, whose observational drawings capture human connection, paired with cocktails inspired by his work. Looking ahead to 2026, the gallery will host solo and group exhibitions blending local talent with global voices, creating a space that is both globally connected and locally rooted.  Below, Patta Magazine chats with two of the minds behind the project, Easy Otabor, and supporting the project from Amsterdam multidisciplinary agency Tree Filling Window, Erum Shah.How did the relationship form between Chicago and Amsterdam?Erum Shah: I’ve worked with Easy for years, including on Tom Sachs projects. Easy has been thinking about expanding Anthony Gallery to Europe, and Amsterdam felt natural. Both cities are local yet global, with strong communities and a commitment to craft. Amsterdam, like Chicago, brings together music, design, and art in a way that aligns with Anthony Gallery’s values.Easy Otabor: Amsterdam has long been a crossroads for art and ideas — a place where conversations can take root. There’s a growing energy here around contemporary art, and we wanted to be part of that momentum while also creating a bridge between European and American audiences. You’re launching with Tony Lewis, tell us how that lined up.Erum Shah: We wanted a celebratory launch before the program officially kicks off in 2026. Easy has a long-standing relationship with artist Tony Lewis, whose drawings capture hospitality and human connection. He sketches in bars, observing people and spaces, which reflects the spirit of the gallery. The launch exhibition felt like a natural way to bring Amsterdam together while connecting US and European perspectives. Tony also plans to create cocktails to pair with his drawings, creating an interactive and authentic experience.Easy Otabor: We’ve admired Tony’s practice for years. His ability to use language to address questions of identity and communication feels incredibly relevant right now. When the opportunity arose to collaborate on a new body of work, the timing felt right for it to anchor our opening. It sets the tone for the kind of dialogue we want the gallery to fosterWhen you select artists to work with, what do you keep in mind?Erum Shah: Easy pairs new voices with established ones, challenging what fine art can be. He prioritizes cultural crossover and, as a Chicago-born gallerist, includes many Black artists. His roster is distinctive because he creates dialogues between emerging and established artists, for example, pairing an emerging painter with someone like George Condo in a group show.Easy Otabor: We want to continue to keep working with great artists, but more importantly, great people.What role do you see the gallery playing in Amsterdam’s community?Erum Shah: The gallery’s responsibility is to add to the existing cultural ecosystem. We chose Amsterdam because its values - intersection of music, design, art, and local brand culture - align naturally with his vision. The goal is not to impose an international voice but to bring Amsterdam into conversation, pairing local voices with artists from Easy’s global network, including the US, Tokyo, and the African diaspora.Easy Otabor: We hope to contribute to the ecosystem and culture. That means engaging with artists, curators, and institutions already here, while bringing new voices into the mix. Our goal is to build a space that’s both globally connected and locally grounded—a place for exchange, experimentation, and discovery.What’s planned for 2026?Easy Otabor: We have an exciting slate of exhibitions that build on this year’s conversations, some returning collaborators and some new names we’re thrilled to introduce. Beyond the program itself, 2026 will be about deepening relationships: with artists, collectors, and the communities around both galleries. We’re focused on long-term growth, not just expansion.Are there other ways the gallery will engage with the community?Erum Shah: We want to redefine what a gallery can be. It will host talks and conversations across culture, curated exhibitions, and events that create community engagement. We’re exploring partnerships with local establishments and other sectors like hospitality and food, so the gallery feels integrated with Amsterdam’s culture. Opening nights and ongoing events should encourage dialogue, participation, and a deeper connection to the city.

Known for her artistic use of visuals across documentary, short films, feature films, installations, and beyond, filmmaker and director Garret Bradley uses her work to ask questions about everyday life, often revealing intimate answers in doing so. Sociopolitical in nature, Bradley’s oeuvre spans early works like America and her Oscar-nominated feature Time, and is often intrinsically tied to the Black experience, exploring and elevating those narratives into rich and multifaceted stories. Below, Bradley, who had a major exhibition at the Eye Filmmuseum in Amsterdam last summer called Revolutions, reflects on transparency, the weight of her visuals, and the responsibility of bringing Black life to the screen.In Time, and throughout your broader body of work, you render the political through intimacy, the social through the personal. How do you think about the ethical dimensions of that gesture?Whether it’s in resistance to, or in harmony with, even the most intimate choices we make are connected to the bigger picture. And anything that's made: a book, a movie, a choice, operates the same way. Transparency is an anchor point of anything ethical. Being transparent about what I know, and what I don't know…what my intentions are, my opinions even….Being clear includes people within a line of logic that isn't a secret, that can be agreed or disagreed with from an informed, even autonomous place, and I think that’s an integral part of making films about people and with people…And sometimes you know, when you’re working in a quieter space, that doesn't require anyone else, there is still an important dialogue happening. It’s like a mantra at this point that images are belief systems and that responsibility is one that has to be taken seriously. I’m not saying that anyone has to have clarity of what they're making. Or even a sense of purpose. You don't have to have a message or even be interested in one. Creating in an unknown space and moving through doubt are part of what makes making things so magical and deeply human. I think what I’m saying is that the purpose of anything you make and its meaning will be made for you eventually by anyone who encounters it. And anything that reaches the world, or even just as its maker, even if no one sees it, creates a ripple effect and influence that ranges in subtlety. I think about that a lot. It might even be the place that I’m always starting from, the ethical dimension. In a moment when images of suffering are so easily consumed, what does it mean to make work that insists on care, duration, and presence?I don't know if I believe that any images of suffering are easily consumed. It might appear that way, but our subconscious informs the way we feel and act and see the world much more than we think.On one hand, the conscious act of taking my time is out of my control. It’s just the way it is, what the work and the process demands. And there’s so much being made on a regular basis, the world doesn't need me or any of us to output at the same rate.  I like thinking about each of those words, though, and figuring out what each of them really means. To care, to have presence, to be in conscious communion with time. It describes filmmaking perfectly. Why press record if you don't care? Presence is evoked by that very act, and so is time. Your films, from America to Time, blur the distinctions between the factual and the lyrical, between record and reverie. What does this merging offer you as a means of articulating Black life and temporality, and how does it complicate dominant cinematic languages of truth and representation?The factual and the lyrical are often the same. The beauty of that is in part what motivates and informs my work. I love your link between record and reverie.Propaganda refuses a multi-dimensional perspective and so to record with reverie requires a certain kind of caution. I'd like to think that anything I make about another person ends up being something they are happy with, of course, but also, and maybe more importantly, not something they could argue with. Meaning it’s true, and it’s real, and it’s human and therefore universal. And my reverie of them is integral to its making, but not to the extent that they have lost all dimension. That they are perfect. Every film requires its own ecosystem, but there is the consistent puzzle of how to shape a linear medium in such a way that we see, and know, and believe multiple sides of a single situation…or person…or idea…a question.And yes, that dimensionality has historically been withheld from anyone outside a heteronormative white male space. to the extent that even the smallest effort to illustrate multiplicity is, as you said, a complication of the dominant cinematic language of truth and representation. Mainstream filmmaking has historically flattened our experiences on the screen into a single plane of existence that’s either all work or all play.A body of work made over a lifetime is ideally liberated, meaning it’s sometimes impractical and exists as something that can be talked about and understood as more than a counter, or foil to something else….that’s another kind of flattening….A recentering of how we define dominant is also at play, and maybe what I’m most interested in. Introducing spaces, faces, and situations that are unfamiliar to one another. Like introducing giants to a nursery teacher.

Hairstyling by Yara Forster | Photography by Andrea AmponsahYara Forster is a hair artist using Black hair as her medium. She is known for her sharp, sculptural signature. Cornrows, afro shapes, and custom hairpieces define her work, each a statement on its own. Narrative-driven, her practice spans editorials, campaigns, runway shows, music videos, and theatre, always making hair part of the story rather than decoration.Growing up in the late ’90s and early ’00s, she was constantly working with her own hair, studying it, figuring it out. The styles she saw in the Bijlmer, combined with pop culture from music videos and magazines, shaped her eye and foundation.Her work has gained international recognition, appearing in leading publications including Vogue, Elle, and Harper’s Bazaar, as well as institutional exhibitions such as Voices of Fashion at the Centraal Museum Utrecht. In 2022, Yara won Best Hairstyling in a Fashion Film at the London Fashion Film Festival. In 2024, she presented Welcome To The Kingdom at OSCAM, her first solo exhibition.What began as an inner urge is now a daily practice. Yara works with focus and intent, using Black hair as a language. For this issue, she created a series of looks celebrating the art of Black hair.Braided Updo In the 2000s, updos became louder and more glamorous, more volume, spiky ends, and playful shapes. Rhinestones, clips, glitter, and creative edges added extra flair, while swooped side pieces and braids were often incorporated. This look reimagines that era with a modern, sculptural approach, combining braids and form in a bold statement. Natural Hair Texture This look is a tribute to the unique structure of Black hair. Yara reflects, “My own hair taught me to explore its possibilities. In my family, I had no direct reference for my tighter, denser curls, so I had to figure out how to care for and style it myself.” This style celebrates natural textures while incorporating braiding. Freestyle Braids“This was my favourite braid style growing up,” Yara says. Freestyle braids allowed her clients to fully trust her creativity, resulting in unique combinations of patterns, forms, and sometimes even words. This look merges different braided shapes and structures, showing a playful approach to hair as art. Ala Kondre BraidsInspired by the traditional Surinamese Ala Kondre Chain, this look translates the chain’s links, charms, and beads, each with its own meaning, into hair. Various braid techniques, patterns, and textures combine to form a cohesive whole. The look celebrates Yara’s Surinamese heritage and the unity of diverse influences and techniques. Every braid pattern carries a story, making the hair both a visual and symbolic tribute to her hair journey.Archive images of Yara Forster's work Photographer: Fred EldarPhotography: Ines Vansteenkiste-Muylle