ArtSci Roundup: UW Dance Presents, 2022 History Lecture Series, and more

On the occasion of Diana Al-Hadid: Archive of Longings, the Henry Art Gallery presents a series of writing workshops with three Pacific Northwest writers who will lead sessions that continue the processes of influence suggested in Al-Hadid’s work, as well as give community participants opportunity to consider “archives” that live close to home and heart.

In the second workshop of the series, Washington State poet laureate Rena Priest asks, what is this impulse to write and create art? Is it a wish to document, preserve, and archive the poignant moments of our lives? Is it a wish to respond to the beautiful things we encounter? To explain the questions and desires within us? This writing workshop will offer opportunities to reflect upon the work in the exhibition, as well as to make our own attempts at creating work that acts as a bridge for thoughts, feelings, and moments across time and space, while archiving information in the climate-controlled rooms of our poems, essays, and stories.

Packaged Black at the Henry Art Gallery brings together the work of artists Derrick Adams (b. 1970, Baltimore, MD) and Barbara Earl Thomas (b. 1948, Seattle, WA) in a collaborative, multi-media installation developed from their shared dialogue about representation, Black identity, and practices of cultural resistance. This exhibition is a synthesis of a multi-year, intergenerational, and cross-country exchange between New York-based Adams and Seattle-based Thomas that began after the two artists exhibited work alongside each other in a group show at the Savannah College of Art and Design in 2017.

Unresolved pasts tend to return. In the aftermath of state-perpetrated injustice, a façade of peace can suddenly give way. In such circumstances, the voices and visions of artists can help us see what otherwise evades perception. Focusing on contemporary performance in post-apartheid South Africa, this lecture will explore how unresolved racialized histories of state-perpetrated violence create conditions of possibility and impossibility for performance artists, choreographers, and theater makers. Catherine Cole, Divisional Dean of the Arts and Professor of Dance and English, will be presenting from her recent book, Performance and the Afterlives of Injustice, which brings the most social of art forms—live performance—together with questions about how societies change in the wake of state perpetrated atrocities.

Grammy-nominated Imani Winds joins Catalyst Quartet to present a bold combination of chamber music for winds and strings with (im)migration: music of change at Meany Hall. Known for their dynamic performances and innovative repertoire, Imani Winds leads a revolution of the wind quintet while Catalyst Quartet features alumni from the internationally acclaimed Sphinx Organization. Performing individually and together, their program highlights the experiences of migration, built around Sergeant McCauley, a newly commissioned piece from violinist and composer Jessie Montgomery.