This event will consider the role of place, or belonging, in how individuals and communities experience and resist structural violence and systemic erasure. The program is inspired by the resilience and creativity of the independent, community-driven artist initiatives encountered in Dakar, Senegal. 6:30-7:00 Reception with refeshments 7:00-7:30 Films by Tourmaline and Howardena Pindell. The evening begins with a screening of two films by artist, filmmaker, and activist Tourmaline: Salacia (2019), a fictional narrative built around Mary Jones, a Black transgender sex worker and outlaw in New York City in 1836, and Atlantic is a Sea of Bones (2017), a short starring Egyptt LaBeija and Fatima Jamal, who offer performance and self-expression as a form of resistance to the systematic violence perpetrated against Black queer and trans people. These will be followed by Howardena Pindell's pivotal work Free, White and 21 (1980), a performance video in which Pindell speaks directly to the camera describing the racism she experiences in professional, educational, and personal settings. 7:30-8:30 Conversation with Tourmaline, Howardena Pindell, and Ayesha Williams; moderated by Siona Wilson. Following the screening, art historian Siona Wilson, whose research probes issues of sexual difference, race and sexuality at the intersection of art and politics in the twentieth century, will moderate a discussion with Tourmaline, Howardena Pindell, and Ayesha Williams, Deputy Director of The Laundromat Project. The conversation will reflect on the films' treatment of structural power and self-determination, as well as how multigenerational, multiracial community networks -- like The Laundromat Project -- can be effective agents of social change.
New York City, NY; NYC