On a normal day, Gibney’s 23 studios are a bustling artistic nexus. We love walking down the hallway and seeing different artists, different projects, and different communities making each space their own. We are missing that feeling, and want to find a way to share it with you.
We’ve asked a group of renters whose rehearsals, showings, workshops, and events have been postponed or suspended to give us a glimpse of what they’re working on, share the ways we can support them right now, and tell us what the first thing they’ll do is once they’re back in the studio.
The first thing we’ll do? Close our eyes, feel the floor supporting us, and take a deep breath of gratitude.
RENTER SPOTLIGHT: Jumoke McDuffie-Thurmond: RECIPE FOR RESURRECTION
“I think performance is a collective experience that’s uniquely impactful, and it will be even more necessary in the aftermath of this pandemic.”
Who are you?
About Jumoke’s Work: Informed by the work of Ntozake Shange, Christina Sharpe, and M. NourbeSe Philip, Recipe For Resurrection is a choreopoem that considers what it means to live within the emotional wake of chattel slavery. The piece is grounded in textual archives of enslavement (ledgers, wills, bills of sale, etc.) from Edgefield, South Carolina where my familial ancestors were enslaved. Through poetic translation, Recipe For Resurrection repurposes the anti-Black rhetoric of these documents to center the presence of the enslaved and their descendants.
Video by: Jumoke McDuffie-Thurmond & Maret Rossi
How can we support you right now?
Support my work by following @jumokeakil on Instagram and staying tuned for upcoming project announcements.
What are you most looking forward to about being back in the studio?
I’m especially looking forward to getting back into the studio and sharing the work with people. I think performance is a collective experience that’s uniquely impactful, and it will be even more necessary in the aftermath of this pandemic. At its core Recipe For Resurrection is a piece about healing, and I hope that a communal engagement with themes of grief, recovery, and survival will ultimately be a cathartic experience for audience members.
Top photo by Maret Rossi.