PORTALS
TRAVERSING BLACK CONTINUUMS
a journey through time, space, generations, and dimensions
In case you missed it…
Check out the PORTALS minizine with photos from the closing performance at Recess.
We are Kendra J. Ross, Ziedah Diata, and Pia Monique Murray, longtime friends and neighbors in Bedford Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. Opening at Recess as part of Session, we are bringing our individual practices together for the first time to create a deeply collaborative project. PORTALS: Traversing Black Continuums is a journey through time, space, generations, and dimensions! A multi-disciplinary work, PORTALS interweaves dance, sound, video, and craft into a fully immersive installation that is transportive and transformative.
Our super fast-paced society spits out technological advancements faster than our human imaginations can even dream, and still so much is out of our control. There is so much wisdom to be gleaned from manual and analog technologies, and with less negative impacts than our digital and virtual advancements. Common items from our lives– candy, bags, mirrors, and water, serve as portals to travel between Black past, present and the Afro-future. Whether through a lesson passed down by an elder with a butterscotch drop, or a bag full of bags tucked in a kitchen corner, these items symbolize the resilience and ingenuity passed down through Black families over generations that we can use today.
“More/new technology will not save us. There is no answer AI could generate that would liberate us from ourselves. We must return to our ancient technologies, rely on our ancestral wisdom. We once understood our place in relation to all things, and we can get there again. But it is not with more technology, and it is most certainly not with AI.”
Flyer designed by Pia Monique Murray; Videos (in order of appearance) edited by Kendra J. Ross; edited by Pia Monique Murray.