Telling Herstory
Telling Herstory
curated by Elvira Clayton
chashama 461 Gallery
461 West 126th Street
New York, NY
Gallery viewing hours and Opening Reception are free and open to the public.
Gallery Hours: November 10th-13th, 2011, 1-6pm
Opening Reception: Friday, November 11th, 6pm-10pm
The focal point of the exhibition is a series of five large-scale hand-made artist books inspired by the stories collected from Harlem senior citizens. Listening stations are placed throughout the gallery for the audience to hear sound portraits created from the seniors recorded interviews.
Telling Herstory is a community collaborative art project that collects oral narratives from Harlem-based senior citizens that celebrate their female ancestors. It provides a platform not only for the stories collected but for the re-imagining of those stories lost and forgotten due to the realities of slavery in this country.
"Once I began to sit with the seniors and hear their stories, I realized there was something very powerful here", recalls Elvira Clayton, "many of the elders that I spoke with represented the last surviving physical links to relatives, (grandmothers, great grandmothers), who were born into or immediately after slavery".
The project serves as a stage to address cultural and social issues including the impact and residuals of slavery, and celebrates the triumphs in spite of it.
This project was made possible with support from The Manhattan Community Arts Fund Grant, The Jerome Foundation, The Anderson Center for Interdisciplinary Studies, and Blue Mountain Center.
curated by Elvira Clayton
chashama 461 Gallery
461 West 126th Street
New York, NY
Gallery viewing hours and Opening Reception are free and open to the public.
Gallery Hours: November 10th-13th, 2011, 1-6pm
Opening Reception: Friday, November 11th, 6pm-10pm
The focal point of the exhibition is a series of five large-scale hand-made artist books inspired by the stories collected from Harlem senior citizens. Listening stations are placed throughout the gallery for the audience to hear sound portraits created from the seniors recorded interviews.
Telling Herstory is a community collaborative art project that collects oral narratives from Harlem-based senior citizens that celebrate their female ancestors. It provides a platform not only for the stories collected but for the re-imagining of those stories lost and forgotten due to the realities of slavery in this country.
"Once I began to sit with the seniors and hear their stories, I realized there was something very powerful here", recalls Elvira Clayton, "many of the elders that I spoke with represented the last surviving physical links to relatives, (grandmothers, great grandmothers), who were born into or immediately after slavery".
The project serves as a stage to address cultural and social issues including the impact and residuals of slavery, and celebrates the triumphs in spite of it.
This project was made possible with support from The Manhattan Community Arts Fund Grant, The Jerome Foundation, The Anderson Center for Interdisciplinary Studies, and Blue Mountain Center.
