Grounded II
Juneteenth Grand Opening @ The Fray Baltimore (2018)
30min Performance collaboration with Veronica Hunter
The second performance of the Grounded series, for
The Fray Baltimore’s Juneteenth Opening. The Fray
was a community center and artist studio space for
young Black artists, musicians, and artisans. This 30-minute endurance piece was in collaboration with my mother Veronica Hunter. She recited poems I selected from her book, Poems Thoughts and Thanksgivings,
while I was completely buried under rocks and
pebbles we collected from the Cherry Hill train tracks
that run behind my grandmother’s (her mother's) home. Because I was asked to do a piece revolving around the holiday of Juneteenth I picked poems that referenced liberation and faith. My mother held the other end of the PVC tube I used for breathing, creating an almost womb-like reenactment until I was able to emerge into the world again symbolizing a rebirth of myself, our relationship,
and the spirit of emancipations associated with the
original 1865 event.
The Fray Baltimore’s Juneteenth Opening. The Fray
was a community center and artist studio space for
young Black artists, musicians, and artisans. This 30-minute endurance piece was in collaboration with my mother Veronica Hunter. She recited poems I selected from her book, Poems Thoughts and Thanksgivings,
while I was completely buried under rocks and
pebbles we collected from the Cherry Hill train tracks
that run behind my grandmother’s (her mother's) home. Because I was asked to do a piece revolving around the holiday of Juneteenth I picked poems that referenced liberation and faith. My mother held the other end of the PVC tube I used for breathing, creating an almost womb-like reenactment until I was able to emerge into the world again symbolizing a rebirth of myself, our relationship,
and the spirit of emancipations associated with the
original 1865 event.
I wrote this short accompanying text:
“Examples of my body in states of rest, still experiencing the physical/mental fluxes. The purgatorial double consciousness. Constantly pushing through modes of cultural & spiritual rebirth. What will it look like when I come out as myself?
I do fear death. Sometimes when you’re afraid of something you challenge it.
But I also have this feeling that all of the Black energy that has experienced death before me, has also experienced death for me.”
