Curating and Project Direction
Back and Song
Role: Co-Curator, Co-Commissioner
Girard College, Philadelphia, PA
Presented by Philadelphia Contemporary and Thomas Jefferson University
October 5-27, 2019
In 2019, I worked with Nato Thompson, Kerry Bickford and other Philadelphia Contemporary staff as the original curatorial team and co-commissioners of Back and Song. Back and Song is a meditative four-channel film and art installation by filmmakers Elissa Blount Moorhead and Bradford Young, produced by Philadelphia Contemporary and Thomas Jefferson University. This kaleidoscopic installation reflected on the manner in which health and wellness are part and parcel of the Black American experience from cradle to grave.
Back and Song considered the labor and care provided by generations of Black healers—doctors, nurses, midwives, morticians, therapists, and health aides—and their histories of contribution to, and resistance toward, the flawed and discriminatory structures of Western medicine.
Photography by Philadelphia Contemporary
PRESS:
Sandstrom, Natalie, “New exhibition ‘Back and Song’ at Girard College explores medical discrimination and healing,” Art Blog, October 22, 2019
Russ, Valerie, “Two prominent filmmakers have filled the Girard College chapel with images of Black people healing themselves, across time and around the globe,” The Philadelphia Inquirer, October 10, 2019.
Crimmins, Peter, “At Girard College, ‘Back and Song’ showcases forgotten history of African healing arts,” WHYY, October 8, 2019