Idle Crimes & Heavy Work...
Idle Crimes and Heavy Work focuses on the often overlooked experiences of Black women within the history of incarceration and convict labor. This interactive performance and video installation contemplates narratives of gendered and racial violence, and amplifies modes of resistance and restoration.
We center the historical criminalization of black women’s stillness (“idleness”) that has very real implications for Black women’s labor today. We reflect on the commodification of our working bodies that emerged during slavery and was perpetuated through convict leasing to build the infrastructure of the new south.
Idle Crimes & Heavy Work is developing through Moving Our Stories, LLC, in conjunction with my participation as a co- director of The Georgia Incarceration Performance Project — a devised archives-to- performance collaboration between Spelman College and The University of Georgia, faculty, students, archivists, librarians, community partners, and incarcerated collaborators, exploring the history of incarceration and convict labor in Georgia.
I am honored to partner with Giwayen Mata, the "award-winning, dynamic, soul-stirring, all-sistah, dance, percussion, and vocal ensemble that celebrates the richness of traditional Afrika by exhibiting its exemplary art forms. The ensemble performs traditional, contemporary and original pieces that address issues pertaining to people of color, women, and the environment." Learn about our process here.
The first iteration of "Idle Crimes & Heavy Work" premiered on June 27th, 2019, at The Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia (MOCA-GA), as part of Controlled Burn, the Hughley Artist Fellowship group exhibition by WonderRoot, curated by Iman Person.
This work is supported by the Black Spatial Relics Residency Award, an Artistic Assistance Project Development grant from Alternate ROOTS, and was selected for the Arbes Award through Wonderroot.
What is next for Idle Crimes & Heavy Work?
We are partnering with local historian and director of Insight Cultural Tourism, Robert Thompson, to conduct archival research on sites and structures around Atlanta tied to the history of incarceration and convict labor, particularly in regards to black women's labor that contributed to building this city's landscape.
CLICK HERE TO LEARN HOW YOU CAN SUPPORT THIS WORK
CLICK HERE FOR UPCOMING EVENTS
We center the historical criminalization of black women’s stillness (“idleness”) that has very real implications for Black women’s labor today. We reflect on the commodification of our working bodies that emerged during slavery and was perpetuated through convict leasing to build the infrastructure of the new south.
Idle Crimes & Heavy Work is developing through Moving Our Stories, LLC, in conjunction with my participation as a co- director of The Georgia Incarceration Performance Project — a devised archives-to- performance collaboration between Spelman College and The University of Georgia, faculty, students, archivists, librarians, community partners, and incarcerated collaborators, exploring the history of incarceration and convict labor in Georgia.
I am honored to partner with Giwayen Mata, the "award-winning, dynamic, soul-stirring, all-sistah, dance, percussion, and vocal ensemble that celebrates the richness of traditional Afrika by exhibiting its exemplary art forms. The ensemble performs traditional, contemporary and original pieces that address issues pertaining to people of color, women, and the environment." Learn about our process here.
The first iteration of "Idle Crimes & Heavy Work" premiered on June 27th, 2019, at The Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia (MOCA-GA), as part of Controlled Burn, the Hughley Artist Fellowship group exhibition by WonderRoot, curated by Iman Person.
This work is supported by the Black Spatial Relics Residency Award, an Artistic Assistance Project Development grant from Alternate ROOTS, and was selected for the Arbes Award through Wonderroot.
What is next for Idle Crimes & Heavy Work?
We are partnering with local historian and director of Insight Cultural Tourism, Robert Thompson, to conduct archival research on sites and structures around Atlanta tied to the history of incarceration and convict labor, particularly in regards to black women's labor that contributed to building this city's landscape.
CLICK HERE TO LEARN HOW YOU CAN SUPPORT THIS WORK
CLICK HERE FOR UPCOMING EVENTS
View the Video Installation Trailers:
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Photos from the Creative Process:
