Our artists in residence Hollis Hammonds and Mark Menjivar and our writer in residence Faylita Hicks are working on some exciting projects this spring!
Hollis has collaborated with poet Sasha West on the multimedia exhibition Awake in the Dark. The pieces begin what Timothy Morton calls “grief work,” articulating the experience of living in the midst of a fragile, changing ecosystem. Through self-interrogations, the artists question both individual and societal contributions to environmental crisis. Viewers dwell in wreckage, suspended between flood and fire, stasis and loss. Objects lose their meaning as markers for a normal existence. In these works, the distinction between natural and human-made disasters starts to collapse. Hammonds and West invite viewers to see anew their own part in making the physical world and, thus, the future.
Awake in the Dark was on view at the Austin Public Library Gallery last November, and will be on view at the College of the Mainland Art Gallery in Texas City until May 4th. A reception for the show will be held from 11am-1pm on May 4th. You can read more about Hollis and Sasha’s project here. (Image from Awake in the Dark; photo by Hollis Hammonds.)
Mark continues his work with TAVP’s David Lee Powell archival collection with DLP Mirror, on view May 6th at the Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Through a multi-channel sound and architectural installation, the artist explores the story of David Lee Powell and the musical score he composed while incarcerated on death row. David composed a variation of an 18th century musical score, an incredible feat for someone with no access to instruments or any musical training. The score was played in the courtroom during his trial and resurfaced after his execution in 2010. Prior to his execution, David served 32 years on death row for the murder of police officer Ralph Ablanedo. He graduated high school as valedictorian at 16 years old and was an honor student at the University of Texas, but faced severe mental health issues at the time of the murder. The installation will be located inside Cellblock 15, also known as Death Row. The score will be made available, so visitors can take the piece home to play and share with others. (Photo of Mark Menjivar at Eastern State Penitentiary by Sean Kelly.)
Mark is also one of the creators and curators of All the Sacrifices You’ve Made / Todos Los Sacrificios Que Has Hecho, which is on exhibit at The Washington State Historical Society through October 16, 2022. This collaboration was created by Mark and his fellow Borderland Collective member Jason Reed with College Assistance Migrant Program (CAMP) at the University of Washington staff and students including Luz Iniguez, Natalia Esquivel Silva, Orfil Olmos, Gabriela Ruiz, Moises Mendez, and Alondra Torres. Participants curated photos from their family albums, made new photographs, and recorded their oral histories. The resulting exhibition creates a uniquely personal connection between the viewer and the families and serves as an acknowledgment of the contributions, resilience, joys, and sacrifices made by farmworkers from the Eastern Washington agricultural regions of Yakima and Wenatchee. You can listen to Mark and Jason discuss the project with Luz, who is the former director of CAMP, here.
Faylita will perform at this year’s Black Mountain Institute Festival in Las Vegas, Nevada on May 7th. “Still I Rise: An Evening of Poetry and Music” will be held at Fergusons Downtown, and will open with the words of Faylita as well as Kaveh Akbar, Elle Hope, and Sin à Tes Souhaits and end with transformative sounds by musician Mai Khoi and her 3-piece band. Attendees will feel the effects of poetry read to the mountains as the Las Vegas lights flicker in the background.
You can check out a new poem of Faylita’s that was featured in Scalawag Magazine in celebration of National Poetry Month, and read some newer prose of theirs in their newsletter Prepare the Altar, including their April 11th essay, “The Lights of Vegas: A Parable”:
There are moments, when we learn something honest about what it means to be human, to be a glowing body floating in the heart of an unending darkness with unknown borders. This was one such moment, a time during which I remembered that for all I think I know about how everything is connected—about how the cycle of life is meant to end and begin—there is still more to be discovered.
This February Faylita was featured on The Poetry Question’s TPQ20 podcast, discussing passions, process, pitfalls, and poetry. They also made an appearance on the Black Mountain Radio podcast episode, “Stewardship Hereafter,” reimagining the United State through the Declaration of Independence.
