![BLACK PORTRAITURE[S] VII: PLAY & PERFORMANCE](https://www.blackportraitures.info/bp7/wp-content/uploads/sites/12/2022/02/bp7-logo-black.svg){kind=logo}
- Date: February 17, 2022
- Time: 10:00 am—11:30 am
- Location: Lecture Hall
Speakers
- Jessica Lynne, Curator and Cultural Worker
- Jasmine Wahi, Curator and Cultural Worker – Project for Empty Space
Moderator/s
- Brendan Fernandes – Northwestern University
A panel discussion with Jessica Lynne and Jasmine Wahi in conversation with Brendan Fernandes
What does it mean to play? Playing is an action, one that responds to having fun and making joy, but it also can communicate socio-political structures and strategies. In these times of social uprisings, times of struggle, we must find ways to support play as a means to build solidarity and community.
Since 2016, contemporary artist Brendan Fernandes’ work has taken on a new and more socially-engaged approach. Following the Pulse Orlando Shooting and the fall out of the US presidential election, he has created works that pose the question: how do we find new forms of freedom and agency under social and political restraints through dance and movement? Many of his projects, such as Steady Pulse (Recess, 2017), Free Fall 49 (The Getty Museum, 2017) and Master and Form (The Whitney Biennial, 2019) look to POC and queer communities for gestures and strategies of resistance, which are already part of many of our everyday lives. Other works, such as Clean Labour (More Art, 2017) or I’M DOWN (The 18th Street Arts Centre, 2017) further look to specific groups and communities to identify visible gestures of kindness and generosity.
A main focus of this discussion will feature Free Fall for Camera (MCA, 2020), which looks at how bodies are being marginalized by race and gender. Generally, Free Fall for Camera is a game of call and response. It suggests that though we fall, we regain footing and move forward because, right now, we all need to find solidarity to stand up and make change.
In this panel discussion curators and cultural workers Jessica Lynne and Jasmine Wahi will examine play in the work of Brendan Fernandes as a way to make community and build solidarity for a greater gathering of people.