Born Buffalo

Textile Curiosities
2023-11-25 10:00 - 16:00 (America/New_York) | Botanical Gardens, 2655 South Park Avenue, Buffalo, NY, 14218-1526, United States
Textile Curiosities
Step into a world where art and nature converge in a display of faux-taxidermy moth and butterfly sculptures. Aleah Ford, known as “Moth On The Wall,” invites you to experience the enchanting realm of these ephemeral creatures through her meticulously crafted works. In this exhibition, Aleah’s sculptures come to life using textiles, wire, faux fur, clay, and flocking. The sculptures are presented within shadow boxes, reminiscent of Victorian curiosity cabinets, inviting viewers to step back in time to an era of exploration and discovery. Each box offers a glimpse into the fascinating world of the Lepidoptera.

Life on Thin Ice: Kilii Yüyan | NAT GEO LIVE
2024-04-02 19:00 - 21:00 | Kleinhans Music Hall, 3 Symphony Circle, Buffalo, NY, 14201, United States
Life on Thin Ice: Kilii Yüyan | NAT GEO LIVE
Kleinhans Music Hall is pleased to welcome Kiliii Yüyan as part of the National Geographic Live 2024 series, taking place in the Main Hall with reserved seating and cushy seats! Subscribe and save! Subscription packages for all 3 National Geographic Live events are on sale now with a 15% savings! General admission subscription packages are only $94.35; VIP series tickets are available for $165.75 and include a reception with hors d’oeuvres and refreshments; and student subscription packages are only $38.25. Purchase today and get ready for an adventure!
In the Arctic north, sea ice is synonymous with the sand in the desert. The ice is vital for transportation, for food, for living. And while the temperatures seem inhumane, the Arctic is teeming with life. Indigenous tribes call this frosty land home, but they’re not alone. Polar bears, musk ox, whales and caribou are some of the Arctic animals co-existing with more than 40 different ethnic groups in the north. Through beautiful images and awe-inspiring moments, National Geographic Live takes you on a journey with our first Indigenous speaker Kiliii Yüyan to understand the native peoples and their relationship to a frigid land and its animals.
ABOUT KILIII YÜYAN
National Geographic Explorer Kiliii Yüyan is an award-winning photographer capturing the human experience in some of the world’s harshest environments. He is a 2023 recipient of National Geographic’s Eliza Scidmore Award for Outstanding Storytelling. Kiliii has a unique talent for showcasing stories of the Arctic and the human communities connected to the land. Kiliii leans on his ancestry that is both Nanai and Chinese-American as he explores northern people. In addition to National Geographic, Kiliii is an award-winning contributor to Vogue, Bloomberg Businessweek, The Guardian and Nature Conservancy.
The National Geographic speaker series is made possible by our wonderful sponsors. Lead sponsors include Hadley Exhibits and P&A Group.

BABEL | Kiese Laymon
2024-04-25 20:00 | Kleinhans Music Hall, 3 Symphony Circle, Buffalo, NY, 14201, United States
BABEL | Kiese Laymon
Just Buffalo Literary Center presents
BABEL featuring Kiese Laymon
Thursday, April 25, 2024
8:00 pm
Doors open & VIP Patron Reception at 7:00 p.m.
Featured Book: Heavy: An American Memoir
Join Just Buffalo Literary Center for an evening with award-winning author Kiese Laymon whose urgent message will bring the audience to both tears and laughter as he reflects on his book, Heavy: An American Memoir.
Season Subscriptions include a ticket for all (4) of Just Buffalo Literary Center’s BABEL 2023-24 events.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
KIESE LAYMON is a Black southern writer from Jackson, Mississippi. In his observant, often hilarious work, Laymon does battle with the personal and the political: race and family, body and shame, poverty and place. His savage humor and clear-eyed perceptiveness have earned him comparisons to Ta-Nehisi Coates, Alice Walker, and Mark Twain. He is the author of the award-winning memoir Heavy, the groundbreaking essay collection How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America, and the genre-defying novel Long Division.
Laymon’s memoir Heavy won the 2019 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction and was named one of the Best Memoirs of the Past 50 Years by The New York Times. A personal narrative that illuminates national failures, Heavy is defiant yet vulnerable—an insightful, often comical exploration of weight, identity, art, friendship, and family.
ABOUT THE BOOK
*Named a Best Book of the Year by the New York Times, Publishers Weekly, NPR, Broadly, Buzzfeed (Nonfiction), The Undefeated, Library Journal (Biography/Memoirs), The Washington Post (Nonfiction), Southern Living (Southern), Entertainment Weekly, and The New York Times Critics*
In this powerful, provocative, and universally lauded memoir—winner of the Andrew Carnegie Medal and finalist for the Kirkus Prize—genre-bending essayist and novelist Kiese Laymon “provocatively meditates on his trauma growing up as a black man, and in turn crafts an essential polemic against American moral rot” (Entertainment Weekly).
In Heavy, Laymon writes eloquently and honestly about growing up a hard-headed black son to a complicated and brilliant black mother in Jackson, Mississippi. From his early experiences of sexual violence, to his suspension from college, to time in New York as a college professor, Laymon charts his complex relationship with his mother, grandmother, anorexia, obesity, sex, writing, and ultimately gambling. Heavy is a “gorgeous, gutting…generous” (The New York Times) memoir that combines personal stories with piercing intellect to reflect both on the strife of American society and on Laymon’s experiences with abuse. By attempting to name secrets and lies he and his mother spent a lifetime avoiding, he asks us to confront the terrifying possibility that few in this nation actually know how to responsibly love, and even fewer want to live under the weight of actually becoming free.
