The Passage Project

Notes From the Diaspora: Artist Jack Whitten & Mambu Badu Magazine

This regular section of The Passage Project is the spot to find abbreviated notes on news and events throughout the African Diaspora and beyond

 

Art
New York City

Jack Whitten's Apps for Obama (2011); Alexander Gray Associates

New York based artist Jack Whitten latest show opens tonight at Alexander Gray and Associates. The show will run through October 15 and will include large and small-scale paintings and drawings.

 

Art
Everywhere

Inaugural issue of Mambu Badu magazine.

Thanks to the incredible blog Dodge & Burn I learned about the incredible online magazine Mambu Badu magazine published by Mambu Badu Photography Collective. The theme of the inagural issue is memory and the featured photoghers include Ethiopian-born Yodith Dammlash, Jennifer N. Everett, Nikita Gale, Nkechi Ebubedike, Sheree R. Swann, and Tonika Johnson. 

 

 

Notes from the Diaspora: Lorna Simpson at the Brooklyn Museum; David Hammons at L&M Arts; Cheryl Will's & the Civil War

Please remind me of who I am, 2009. Courtesy of the Brooklyn Museum.

Art
New York City

Lorna Simpson: Gathered continues at the Brooklyn Museum. In her latest solo show the artist primarily uses her large collection of mid-20th century found photos of African-Americans  to "explore the artist’s interest in the interplay between fact and fiction, identity, and history." The exhibition runs through August 21, 2011.

Lorna Simpson will be joined by Deborah Willis, Chair of the Department of Photography & Imaging at New York University, at the museum to discuss Gathered Thursday, March 10 at 7pm. Willis is the author of several books including Reflections in Black: A History of Black Photographers, 1840 to the Present and Picturing Us: African American Identity in Photography.

Tickets are $10; $6 for members.

Brooklyn Museum
200 Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn, NY
718.638.5000
brooklynmuseum.org

 

Untitled, 2010 by David Hammons. Courtesy of L&M Arts.

For all of those who thought they were running out of time to see David Hammons well recieved show at L &M Arts, you have a bit more time: March 4 will be the last day to catch it.

From The New Yorker's review in their February 14 & 21, 2011 issue:

"Hammons’s show is somehow about everything since Abstract Expressionism—his initial inspiration before he launched his long career as a conceptualist guerrilla, surfacing now and then from jealously guarded obscurity with satirical japes, at once elegant and scorching, on themes of racial and social inequality. Now he has achieved a perfect synthesis of his political animus and his aesthetic avidity. Call it Minimalist Expressionism. Nearly every one of these works belongs in a museum, in a room of its own. Any other art juxtaposed with it would curl up and die."   

L&M Arts, New York
45 East 78 Street
212.861.0020
lmgallery.com

 

 

Books
Everywhere

Cheryl Wills is not only an award winning television journalist, she is now an author. Her book Die Free: A Heroic Family Journey traces her family's roots back to Civil War times as she introduces readers to the story of her great-great-great grandfather, Sandy Wills, who fought as a Union soldier.

Her current book tour has taken her to cities throughout New York state, Pennsylvania, Washington D.C., and Maryland. Below is a partial list of her upcoming stops:

February 25–27, 2011
Harlem Fine Arts Show Riverside Church
490 Riverside Drive New York, NY  212.870.6700
hfas.org

February 28, 2011
Bedford-Stuyvesant Restoration Center
Brooklyn, 6pm
1368 Fulton St
Brooklyn, NY 11216
Phone: 718.636.6900
www.restorationplaza.org

March 1, 2011
Wyandanch Public Library
Long Island, NY 7pm
14 South 20th Street 
Wyandanch, New York, 11798
631.643.4848
http://www.suffolk.lib.ny.us/libraries/wyan/

March 3, 2011
Two Steps Down, Co-sponsored by The Center for Black Literature
Fort Greene, Brooklyn, NY 6:30pm
240 Dekalb Ave
Brooklyn, NY 11205
718.399.2020

March 4, 2011
LaGuardia Airport, Paradeis Bookshop
10am

March 12, 2011
First Presbyterian Church
Springfield Gardens, NY

March 17, 2011
LaGuardia Community College
Queens, NY 5pm

 

Notes from the Diaspora: President's Day & Early American Cuisine; Fashion Week; Who Do You Think You Are

This regular section of The Passage Project is the spot to find abbreviated notes on news and events throughout the African Diaspora and beyond

Photo from Rachel Roy's collection courtesy of Style.com; Photo by Yannis Vlamos / GoRunway.com

 

Fashion
New York City

New York Fashion Week has finally come to a close. Tracy Reese who spent Vatentine's Day showing her fall collection, Rachel Roy showed her latest the following day with with colorful pieces of fabric braided into the hair of her models, and Stephen Burrows showed yesterday. Rodarte's collection hands down is one of my favorites.

 

Food
New York City

Looking for an interesting President's Day activity? If you're like me and are constantly drawn to America's past, then you'll definitely love the culinary discussion Washington and Lincoln's Dinner Table at the 92nd Street Y. (I am terribly upset I will not be able to make it to this. I LOVE learning about traditional American grub.) ($40)

 

Television
Everywhere

The latest installment of one of my favorite TV shows (there are few) continues tomorrow night when Who Do You Think You Are follows Rosie O'Donnell in her search for her ancestors. So far this season has been pretty great with both Tim McGraw and Vanessa Williams digging into their Southern roots.

 

 

 

 

Notes from the Diaspora: PRI's Studio 360 does Monticello & the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute Celebrates Black Models

This regular section of The Passage Project is the spot to find abbreviated notes on news and events throughout the African Diaspora and beyond.

 

Image of Monticello by Oliver Leveritt, Creative Commons 

Everywhere

PRI has been airing Kurt Anderson's Studio 360 - American Icons series featuring Malcolm X, Buffalo Bill, Jimmy Hendrix's Star Spangled Banner, Harley Davidson, and the classic television show I Love Lucy. Today they broadcasted their profile of Monticello, a landmark that is serious obsession of mine. For me, Monticello represents the complexities that have always existed in America. Because of Jefferson's meticulous recordkeeping and the fact that so many of his possessions were well maintained over the years, he left us an abundance to examine and learn from. Whether you're interested in the history of American cuisine, architecture, the issue of race in America, or simply love touring old homes, Monticello should be on the top of your list.

I had the chance to visit in 2007 and am looking forward to another visit this summer. The incredible views from his "little mountain" are reason alone to visit.

There are a couple of differeny ways to listen to American Icons: either You sign up for the podcast or listen to the complete series with topics related to all things Americana online.  

 

New York, Everywhere

On Monday, The Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art paid tribute a watershed event in fashion that took place at the Palace of Versaille in November 1973. According to Colorlines, the work of Christian Dior, Yves St. Laurent,and Emanuel Ungaro showed alongside Halson, Bill Blass, Oscar de la Renta and other designers who were new to the international stage. This was the first time that a fashion event of this scale used a large number of black models. Bethann Hardison was among the black models that evening, who, you might say, started a revolution. Hardison went on to start her own modeling agency in 1984 and is currently the editor-at-large at Italian Vogue's Vogue Black.

Check out images from the night at Fashion Bomb Daily and listen to NPR's telling of the events backstory on Sunday's Weekend Edition.

Notes from the Diaspora

This regular section of The Passage Project is the spot to find abbreviated notes on news and events throughout the African Diaspora and beyond.

 

 

Shopping
Everywhere

This morning I added my name to the waiting list on designer Sheila Bridges website for her Harlem Toile de Jouy porcelian plates. The set of six feature different scenes of African-American life on each. I wrote about her hand screened wallpaper in 2008 and am looking forward to getting my hands on these for a future dinner party.

Notes From the Diaspora, 2/13: Fair Trade Flowers for your Valentine; War Child Presents Heroes; Miles & Coltrane at Jazz at Lincoln Center

This regular section of The Passage Project is the spot to find abbreviated notes on news and events throughout the African Diaspora and beyond.

Flower/Shopping
Worldwide

 
Image courtesy of Fair Trade Certified Flowers. 

How does fair trade for Valentine's Day sound to you? Well, I love the idea and am trying to spread the love. To send fair trade flowers for the big day, visit the website of Fair Trade Certified Flowers. Their site will tell you where to by them in your area. You'll be surprised to learn how easy it is to do some fair trade shopping in your neighborhood. Their clients include FTD, Whole Foods, 1-800 Flowers and Sam's Club.

Music
Worldwide

 

The benefit album War Child presents Heroes is coming soon to an iPod near you. War Child is an organization that works with children who are victims of war in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Afghanistan, Iraq and Uganda. The album includes music legends such as Stevie Wonder, Paul McCartney, Bob Dylan, U2, Leonard Cohen and David Bowie as well as newer artists such as TV on the Radio, Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs, Peaches, Estelle, Duffy and Scissor Sisters. The album will be released internationally February 16th.

Jazz at Lincoln Center logo courtesy of their website.

Music
New York City

Jazz at Lincoln Center presents Miles and Coltrane through February 14. The program marks the 50th anniversary of the albums Kind of Blue and Giant Steps. Jimmy Cobb, who performed on both albums, Take 6, saxophonists Ted Nash, Walter Blanding and Sherman Irby will be performing original and new arrangements. Performances will feature a pre-concert lecture beginning at 7pm in the Irene Diamond Education Center.

Notes From the Diaspora, 1/30: Urwintore's The Investigation; Tibet House Benefit Concert; Boston African Film Festival

This regular section of The Passage Project is the spot to find abbreviated notes on news and events throughout the African Diaspora and beyond.

 

Image courtesy of Urwintore's website.

Theater
Montclair, NJ

It's been a long time coming. The Rwandan theater company Urwintore has brought their production of The Investigation by Peter Weiss to the United States and I've been waiting for the chance to see this production for myself for sometime now.  Originally produced in 1965, the play is based on transcripts from Frankfurt's war crimes trials of German citizens who worked at Auschwitz during WWII. Urwintore's production has been adapted by Jean Beaudrillard, conceived and directed by Dorcy Rugamba and Isabelle Gyselinx.

 

Image of Darcy  Rugamba courtesy of Thisislondon.co.uk.

Urwindtore's production was first performed in Rwanda in 2005 and later performed in London in 2007.
After wrapping up performances in Chicago last week, Urwintore brings their production to the Alexander Kasser Theater in Montclair, New Jersey February 5 - 9. The production will be performed in Kinyarwanda with English super titles.

Music
New York City

Image of musician Angelique Kidjo courtesy of Afropop.com.

Carnegie Hall will play host to the 19th Annual Tibet House Benefit Concert Tuesday, February 3rd at 7:30pm. Performers include Philip Glass, Antibalas, Steve Earle, Keb' Mo', Angelique Kidjo and Monks from India's Drepung Gomang Monastery.  The concert as been held at Carnegie Hall since 1993. Other guests are expected to be announced soon.

Film
Boston
The Boston African FIlm Festival will be taking place February 6 - 15 at The Museum of Fine Arts. This year's screenings include Cheik Doukoure's Paris Selon Moussa (Guinea/France, 2003, 96 min.) and Ngozi Onwurah's Shoot the Messenger (Nigeria/UK, 2006, 100 min.).

Notes From the Diaspora, 1/27: Medicine for Melancholy, Duke Ellington Commemorative Quarter, Johannesburg Int'l Mozart Fest, and African Textiles at Kim Sacks Gallery

This regular section of The Passage Project is the spot to find abbreviated notes on news and events throughout the African Diaspora.

Poster from Medicine for Melancholy courtesy of Strike Anywhere Films.

Film
Across the U.S.

Medicine for Melancholy opens this Friday. Written and directed by Barry Jenkins, the award winning film has been nominated for three Independent Spirit Awards, and is the winner of TK at Sundance
With San Francisco as it's backdrop, the film has been described as "a love story about a one-night stand told through two African-American twenty-somethings dealing with issues of class, identity, and the evolving conundrum of being a minority in rapidly gentrifying San Francisco- a city with the smallest proportional black population of any other major American City." Wyatt Cenac  of The Daily Show and Tracey Heggins are the films two stars.

The movie opens in NYC January 30th, Detroit February 13th, Seattle February 20th, San Francisco and Los Angeles February 27th.

Check out the official website for music from the movie, two short-films by Jenkins called My Josephine and Little Brown Boy, a fierce T-shirt and a photo contest with a $1000 prize. Also, don't forget to look at the films Facebook page for the latest information.

Money
Washington D.C.

Image courtesy of The DCist.

Jazz legend Duke Ellington will grace the flip-side of commemorative quarters representing the District of Columbia. Today, the U.S. Mint released the coin as part of their 50 state quarter program (the Duke Ellington coin is the first to be issued in 2009). The quarter reads, "DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, DUKE ELLINGTON and JUSTICE FOR ALL".

Ellington was born in Washington D.C. April 29, 1899 and later moved to New York in 1923.

If you would like to get your hands on these, the wait to get them at your local bank could be a few weeks. Your best bet is to order directly from the U.S. Mint at 801 9th Street NW in D.C. or it's website.

Music
Johannesburg
Johannesburg International Mozart Festival continues through February 3rd. The festival will feature South African Violinist Zoe Beyers and German pianist Florian Uhlig. A series of workshops, master-classes, lectures and community based programs are also part of the festival.

Textile images courtesy of Kim Sacks Gallery.

Art
Johannesburg
The African textile exhibition Tranformed Fibres opens at The Kim Sacks Gallery January 31st and runs through February 28th. Kente, Dida, Indigo, Fante, Yuroba, Baule, Nupe, Kuba, Fulani, Mbuti, Ewe, Hausa and Bamileke will all be represented in the show. The space is located at 153 Jan Smuts Avenue, Parkwood (27-11/447-5804).

Notes From the Diaspora, 1/6

This regular section of The Passage Project is the spot to find abbreviated notes on news and events throughout the African Diaspora.

Art
Cape Town
The Association for Visaual Arts (AVA) will be opening three solo exhibitions Monday, January 19th with Lindile Magunya's Disgrace, Mawande Zenzile's Crawling Nation, and Kilmany-Jo Liversage's Symbol of Tribute through February 6th.

Artwork by Mawande Zenzile courtesy of AVA.

From the artist statement of Zenzile:
“I have experimented with the revival of Xhosa ‘art’ production, positioning myself and examining this culture in contemporary ways of art production inside Africa. In my work I challenge expectations, perception and misconception behind blackness and consciousness; through this I interrogate, history itself, subcultures, space, and time."

Image courtesy of Girls Write Now.

Literature
New York
Girls Write Now is spreading the word about the upcoming submission deadline for The Scholastic Art and Writing Award by The Alliance for Young Artists & Writers January 13th. I've attended a reading organized by the Girls Write Now in the past and many of it's young writers have won the scholarship. For more details about the award and the program, visit the organizations website. Good luck! 

Film
New York
Healing Starts with Us: An Open Book will be screened January 15, from 7 to 9:30 p.m at Symphony Space. The film looks at the stigma of mental illness in the Black community and features interviews with Ruby Dee, Mo'Nique, Susan L. Taylor, Terry McMillian, among others. Author Terrie M. Williams will be there to discuss the topic with the audience and all those in attendance will receive a copy of her book Black Pain: It Just Looks Like We're Not Hurting (2008).  Tickets are $25.

Notes From the Diaspora, 12/10: Human Rights Day, Tuskegee Airmen at Inauguration, Film Slingshot Hip Hop

This regular section of The Passage Project is the spot to find abbreviated notes on news and events throughout the African Diaspora.

Politics
World

Today is Human Rights Day and the United Nation's has scheduled a number of events to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Declaration of Human Rights. This morning they will be awarding The United Nations Prize in the Field of Human Rights to Louise Arbour, Ramsey Clark, Dr. Carolyn Gomes, Dr. Denis Mukwege and Human Rights Watch. There will also be a panel discussion titled “Reclaiming The Vision: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights Today”  with Prof. Philip Alston, Larry Cox, Michael Ratner, and Prof. Patricia Williams.  

Want more? International human right's champion Amnesty International is organizing the 2008 Global Write-a-thon December 5-14 to mark the occasion. From their website: Write letters on behalf of prisoners of conscience and human rights defenders at risk of severe human rights violations.

Visit Amnesty's website to read a Q&A about the program and to learn about event supporter musician Serj Tankian of the band System of a Down.

Washington D.C.

Surviving members of World War II's Tuskegee Airmen have been invited to attend the inauguration of Barack Obama January 20th. The troop included elite pilots, flight instructors, navigators, radio technicians, air traffic controllers and other grounds crewmen. 

 

Troops being briefed in 1945. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress.

They were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal at a ceremony at the U.S. Capitol on March 29, 2007 by President George Bush. Their other honors include Distinguished Honor Crosses, Legions of Merit, Purple Hearts, Silver Stars, the Croix de Guerre and the Red Star of Yugoslavia.

From 1942 to 1946, the all black air troop trained at Tuskegee Army Air Field in Alabama and Moton Field at the Tuskegee Institute. To visit The Tuskegee Airmen National Historic Site at Moton Field, visit the offical website of the National Park Service.

  
Dr. Roscoe Brown Jr. receives Congressional Gold Medal from President Bush.

  Image courtesy of the Slingshot Hip Hop website.

Film
Dubai

Award-winning documentary Slingshot Hip-Hop, directed by Jackie Reem Salloum, will be screening in Dubai at the DMC Ampitheater December 12th at 8 p.m. After the screening there will be live performances by DAM, PR (The Palestinian Rappers), Fredwreck and the Narcicyst.

The film tells the stories of several young men and woman living in Palestine who are using hip-hop to explore the everyday lives, politics and hardships of their communities in Gaza, the West Bank and Israel.  To see the trailer or to purchase the film's recently released soundtrack and t-shirts, please visit the official website.

Slingshot Hip Hop will also be screened in New York City January 7th. Details coming soon.