The (her)stor(ies) Project

the (her)stor(ies) project is informed by writers Lucille Clifton and Audre Lorde and their approaches to processing grief, anger, pleasure, and agency. Grounded in Clifton’s “for de Lawd,” the works are dedicated to the “Black and going on women,” the ones who, as Clifton reminds us, “got used to making it through murdered sons.” The collection of works holds this mourning and reminds us that pleasure—and insisting on pleasure—is integral to Black women’s survival.

mourn and never tire (2015)

mourn and never tire is a movement score created in response to the number of unarmed Black people killed by police in the U.S. since 1999. While running in place, the performers read the name, age, location, and date of the people killed to process Blackness in relation to endurance, lamentation, and death.

cussin and prayin (2016)

cussin and prayin is a meditation on queer desire.
Presented by Pulitzer Arts Foundation as part of “Shell and Glimpse,” commissioned by AUNTS; EXPLODE! Queer Dance Festival, JACK, Brooklyn, NY

WIGS:  a book of dance poems (2015)

WIGS is a container of Black femme fantasy, pleasure, and the erotic.
Performers: Nahimana Aponi, Audrey Johnson, Miryam Johnson, and Shanice Rollins
This work was developed in part during a yearlong artist residency at Carr Center Detroit.