The Memory of Miss River, 2023 - present
A multi-channel video installation and moving image portrait of the Mississippi River. Here the River is imagined as an untamed mythical dual-spirit who holds the endless memory of the most important waterway in the American South. Prompted by the River's wildness and now engineered constraints, a series of gestures informed by the Mississippi River's movements (carrying, holding, diverting, flooding, draining) were choreographed and performed for the camera by Rebecca Allen and Dancer Jaeda Barret along the River in New Orleans. Movements were designed to gesturally translate the contested and celebratory aspects of the River’s history and memory. The project considers the Mississippi’s life giving force and the impacts of extractive entities that have diverted, controlled, and displaced communities along her waters. Garments were designed by Renee Johnson of Afrimodiste.