Interdisciplinary artist Shani Crowe, in collaboration with Andres Hernandez, will activate the Thrival Geographies (In My Mind I See A Line) installation with a live soundscape performance. Shani and Andres will utilize synthesizers, sound bytes, original music, and braiding gestures to craft an abstract sonic journey through the complex and sordid history of American citizens of African decent, providing vital context for the importance of Black spacial sovereignty.

Participants

Shani Crowe is an interdisciplinary artist, who uses cultural coiffure, adornment, and beauty ritual, as as a tool for healing and connection among people of African descent. She is most known for creating intricate cornrowed hairstyles, then capturing them as large photographic portraits. Shani received her BFA in film production from Howard University’s John H. Johnson School of Communications. Her work has been featured at the Museum of Contemporary African and Diasporan Art (MoCADA), in Brooklyn, NY, the Urban Institute of Contemporary Art, in Grand Rapids, MI, Columbia University, and Soho House Chicago. shanicrowe.com

Through his independent studio-based practice and community-based work with youth and adults, artist, designer, and educator Andres L. Hernandez reimagines the environments we inhabit and explores the potential of spaces for public dialogue and social action. Hernandez is co-founder of the Revival Arts Collective, and founder and director of the Urban Vacancy Research Initiative. He received a Bachelor of Architecture degree from Cornell University and a Master of Arts from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where he is currently Associate Professor in the Department of Art Education. He is also on the faculty of the Graduate Studies program in Art & Design Education at Vermont College of Fine Arts, and was recently a Visiting Assistant Professor in the Graduate School of Architecture & Urban Design at Washington University.

This program is part of the Citizen Lab programming series and takes place in the US Pavilion courtyard.