MIAMI-DADE PUBLIC LIBRARY SYSTEM presents
De Word Spoken Amungst We:
Talking
About the World through Gullah/Geechee Culture
In
conjunction with the exhibition
Gullah
Geechee and the 7 Dreams: A project of Gary L. Moore
Thursday, March 25, 6:30-8:30 p.m.
2nd floor exhibition space,
Main Library, 101 W. Flagler Street, Miami - 305.375.2665
FREE!
We
invite you to be part of a community discussion about the questions raised by
the exhibition Gullah Geechee and the 7 Dreams. A multidisciplinary
panel of practitioners will get us talking. They include:
Ralph B. Johnson, founding member of the
Gullah/Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor Commission; Professor, Florida
Atlantic University School of Architecture and Director, FAU Center for the
Conservation of Architectural and Cultural Heritage
Cain Hope Felder, co-author and editor
of the Original African Heritage Study Bible; professor of New Testament
Language and Literature at the School of Divinity, Howard University
Peter London, associate professor of dance, New World
School of the Arts; visiting Artistic Director Senior for The Martha Graham
Dance Company; and faculty member, Alvin Ailey summer intensive program
Noelle
Theard,
independent photographer and documentarian
For
Gullah Geechee and the 7 Dreams, artist Gary L. Moore curated an exhibition based
on his perceptions of the Gullah/Geechee culture of his childhood in Pee Dee,
South Carolina. The show includes his own sculptural and site-specific work, historical
objects and artifacts from private collections, art from the Library System’s
Permanent Art Collection, and rare books from the Florida Collection. The
project makes aesthetic and metaphysical connections between folk culture,
spirituality, histories of slavery and revolution, handmade aesthetics, and
contemporary art. The 7 dreams of the exhibition’s title refer to seven ways
the culture has survived, manifested itself and is part of the history of
post-slavery African-American culture.
As part of the discussion, we might ask: How do
folk cultures, languages and religions continue to be relevant? How does the
impact of the encroaching tourist industry on the culture of the Sea Islands
relate to development and gentrification in an urban area like Miami? How does
this traditional African-American culture relate to contemporary Caribbean art
and culture in Miami? Rather than a traditional panel discussion in which a
group of “experts” speaks to a passive public, each member of the panel will
work with a small group of audience members. At the end of the evening all of
the groups will come back together as a whole to share their ideas.
Contact 305-375-5048 or [log in to unmask]
for more information.
This project has been funded through a grant
from the Alternate ROOTS Community Artist/Partnership Program, with support
from the Nathan Cummings Foundation and the Ford Foundation.
To find more
about exhibitions and programs coming up at the Library, check out http://mdpls.org/news/exhibitions/exhibitions.asp.