Mayfield brooks: Letters to Marsha and Viewing Hours (a diptych)
January 30 - February 1, 2020
In 1992, mayfield brooks had a missed connection with queer ancestor Marsha P. Johnson. Based on danced and written love notes, Letters to Marsha explores the weight of bodies and history, and the artist’s own evolution as a Black, non-binary queer connecting specters of Black queer death to memory, movement, sound, humor, and pathos. Also as part of the evening, brooks shares Viewing Hours, a piece that takes the form of a wake, with brooks examining perceptions of death and decay—specifically the spectacle of Black bodies dying, decomposing, and grieving in plain sight—and challenges the currency that makes Black death profitable.
Created by: mayfield brooks
Producing Consultant: Marýa Wethers
Curated by Stacy Grossfield as part of her IMAGES // LANDSCAPES series at JACK
Part of JACK's ongoing series, Reparations365
Performance Dates & Times
All performances will begin at 8:00pm EST.
Thursday, January 30th
Friday, January 31st
Saturday, February 1st
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
mayfield brooks Improvises While Black, and is a movement-based performance artist, urban farmer, writer, and wanderer. brooks was a 2017 Movement Research Artist-in-Residence and is currently a 2020 Artist-in-Residence at the Center for Performance Research.
Marýa Wethers is an independent creative producer/manager, consultant and curator, Bessie Award-winning dancer, and Director of International Initiatives at Movement Research.
Presented in partnership with Mount Tremper Arts.
Photo Credit: Amar Puri
Letters To Marsha with Viewing Hours (a diptych) is supported by a Foundation for Contemporary Arts Emergency Grant, the National Endowment for the Arts Art Works program, and by the Shelley & Donald Rubin Foundation.