Laura Wexler, Professor of American Studies and Women’s, Gender, & Sexuality Studies, and Director of the Photographic Memory Workshop at Yale, leads a discussion related to Weems’ Grace Notes with leading scholars of photography, history, art, and ethics.
Panelists
Willie Jennings, Associate Professor of Systematic Theology and Africana Studies, Yale
Nell Irvin Painter, Edwards Professor Emerita of American History, Princeton
Susan Cahan, Lecturer in Art and Associated Dean for the Arts, Yale
Daphne Brooks, Professor of African American Studies, of American Studies, and of Theater Studies, Yale
ABOUT THE PERFORMANCE
Grace Notes: Reflections for Now
Friday and Saturday, September 9–10, 8:00 pm
University Theatre, 222 York Street
Acclaimed photographer and video artist Carrie Mae Weems presents a powerful and provocative new work—rooted in poetry and her stunning projections and featuring music, song, and spoken word—that examines themes of social justice, race, and identity in the context of our historical moment. Weems, a 2013 MacArthur Fellow, has spent a lifetime reflecting on these issues and addresses them in her work with a force and clarity unmatched in contemporary art.
“Grace Notes: Reflections for Now,” originally conceived as a response to President Barack Obama’s singing of “Amazing Grace” during his eulogy for Reverend Clementa Pinckney, one of the victims of the shooting at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, brings together a cast of extraordinary artists from different disciplines, including composer/musician Craig Harris, composer James Newton, poet Aja Monet, writer and theater artist Carl Hancock Rux, dancer Francesca Harper, and singers Alicia Hall Moran, Imani Uzuri, and Eisa Davis. In the current climate of civic and political unrest, Weems asks and explores complicated questions about the meaning of grace and its role in the pursuit of democracy.
Tickets are required and are available for purchase at yalerep.org or 203.432.1234.