Race
Highlights
Phat Free
Phat Free (1995/1999) by David Hammons shows him kicking a metal bucket down a deserted city sidewalk. The rhythmic, metallic sounds create a musical, improvisational effect, blending street life, jazz, and hip-hop while evoking urban struggle and poetic gesture.
Project Qafila
Project Qafila by Marsad Drâa is a research platform exploring Saharan caravan routes, nomadic life, and desert heritage. It traces historical trade routes, cultural exchange, and the impact of geopolitical conflicts, while documenting the lives of contemporary nomadic families.
Documenting the history, hopes, and community ties that wove together Black Portland
Darrell Grant's Come Sunday is a walk through Portland's inner-northeast neighborhoods, which were once home to over 200 Black churches. It was commissioned by Third Angle New Music, which has a focus on creating a "soundtrack for our time".
Wordsworth Heritage
Wordsworth’s Heritage is a photographic work displayed as a billboard across 25 UK urban sites. Featuring William Wordsworth’s profile, it blends the iconic ‘Lake District’ with a group of contemporary Black walkers, challenging notions of history and heritage.
Come Sunday
Come Sunday is a soundwalk created by jazz artist Darrell Grant that explores Portland’s inner-northeast neighborhoods, once home to over 200 Black churches. The route connects thirteen historic Black houses of worship, including Bethel A.M.E. Church, blending oral history, spirituals, poetry, and music to reflect the community's cultural and historical significance.
Walking the Treme
Two hundred years before the HBO television series made Tremé an emblem of the cultural richness of New Orleans, the residents of this faubourg drummed, danced, and second lined their way into history. Tremé, touted as the oldest African American neighborhood in the United States as well as the birthplace of jazz, boasts a history
Articles elsewhere
Ken Johnston, Our Walk to Freedom
” Walk to Freedom came about in late 2017 after I discovered the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, Tennessee was planning remembrance ceremonies in April 2018 to mark the 50th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s assassination. I recognized the importance of this moment and I thought about how could I contribute to […]
Talking walking, stumbling on race and Bath
Fairfield House in Bath, once the war-time home of Haile Selassie I, Emperor of Ethiopia, his family and the government of Ethiopia in exile, was a gift to the city. . The House is a significant site of pilgrimage for Rastafarians and is becoming a centre for art and performance. One of the latest developments is a radio station, Imperial Voice Radio. I was invited on to the In Our City show for a conversation about walking, race and equality in Bath, amongst other things.Click the image [...]
