Living Gallery: Oceana James

Living Gallery, a monthly program curated by Eva Yaa Asantewaa and produced in the Gibney Gallery, presents live performance of storytelling, monologues, spoken word, stand-up, or creative talks.

Each performance—free and open to the public—runs approximately 30 minutes, usually scheduled within the hour before a dance concert presented in Gibney’s Theater. We welcome you to attend both events and enjoy a wide range of expressive artists.

Oceana James is an interdisciplinary artist. Currently, her work is an examination, a re-telling/re-imagining of her Caribbean roots and American experiences.  It is a commentary on the socio-political, cultural and economic realities of peoples of African descent.  In her work James deconstructs the idea of language as one’s sole means of communication and experiments with the use of time.  Right now, her research centered around epigenetics, trees, (the biology and mythology), the intersection of science and religion; and the use of the body to embody and then exorcise the traumas of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade.  Oceana has a MFA in theatre from Sarah Lawrence College (where she studied performing, writing and directing); and a BA (magna cum laude) in English from the University of the Virgin Islands.  She has most recently successfully shown “For Gowie: The Deceitful Fellow” at Dixon Place in New York City and has completed a writing intensive at the Obie Award winning Jack Theatre in Brooklyn.  Oceana has studied under the 2015 Doris Duke Theater Artist Daniel Alexander Jones; Award-winning artist Carl Hancock Rux; award-winning puppeteer and performance artist Dan Hurlin; renowned writer, who is her mentor, Cassandra Medley; and Bessie Award winner David Neumann. Additionally she is working with her other mentor, the awarded writer Sibyl Kempson, and is performing in and serving as a consultant/actress for Kempson’s three-year-long project–12 Shouts to the Ten Forgotten Heavens, at the stalwart New York institution: The Whitney Museum.  Oceana has recently been commissioned by the 7 Daughters of Eve Theater and Performance Company to write a play that will be produced in New York City in 2018.  On St. Croix, her place of birth, Oceana has worked with The Caribbean CommunityTheatre where she has directed most notably a production of The Color Purple amongst other smaller productions. 

ACCESSIBILITY

The accessible entrance for this location is located at 280 Broadway. Please note that this is a shared entrance with the New York City Department of Buildings. To access the elevator, attendees may be asked to provide a valid photo ID and go through building security, including a metal detector.

Requests for reasonable accommodation or for access to the 280 Broadway entrance after 5:00 pm or on the weekend should be made three days in advance by contacting Elyse Desmond at 646.837.6809 (Voice only), or by e-mailing elyse@gibneydance.org.