Art

black queer artist reimagines blackness, gender and in/visibility in moving performance piece on tour now!

May 17, 2017

Kiyan Williams is a multidiscplinary artist and writer whose work explores Black queer identity. Their art has been exhibited internationally, including at SFMOMA (CA), Stanford University (CA), La Mama Experimental Theater Club (NY), Dixon Place (NY), and Orpheum Theater (Austria). Williams’ latest project, Unearthing is a moving performance piece currently touring across the country. Unearthing uses live-singing, installation, movement and storytelling to explore the meaning and experiences of Blackness, gender, history and personal memory.

“The performance is a moving and messy meditation on identity, in/visibility, and transformation,” Kiyan explains. “It amplifies the experiences of people and communities that are often erased and silenced.”

To correspond with their final Unearthing performance, the artist has launched a crowdsourcing campaign to raise funds toward their MFA program at Columbia. That final performance will be on Friday, June 2, at Project For Empty Space in their hometown of Newark, NJ. They are also conducting a workshop at the same place on Saturday, May 27. 

Check out an video excerpt and photos from Unearthing below!:

Unearthing (excerpt) from Kiyan Williams on Vimeo.

 

Find out more at: kiyanwilliams.com

Instagram / Facebook: @lifeisakiki

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