AMBER ROBLES-GORDON featured in Brick City Live

 

Dr. Ntozake Shange’s seminal work gets a gallery’s worth of consideration in new exhibit

Published October 14, 2017 | Andaiye Taylor

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Amber Robles-Gordon, “My Rainbow is Enuf”, Fabric on chicken wire, 2014

Dr. Ntzoke Shange’s choreopoem for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf has bent genres, broken ground, won awards, and inspired legions of people who have seen or read the landmark work, which debuted on Broadway in 1976.

The play touches on themes of sexuality, race, sisterhood, violence and self-love, and in its universality has been taken up and reimagined by people bearing a cross-section of racial and gender identities.

This year at Open Doors, curator Peter “Souleo” Wright will bring a traveling exhibit commemorating for colored girls to City Without Walls (cWOW) gallery, which is located in Newark’s Lincoln Park neighborhood. i found god in myself: a celebration of Dr. Ntozake Shange’s, for colored girls opens Saturday, October 14th and runs through November 18th. (RSVP for the opening.)

The exhibit consists of 10 commissioned artworks, each of which illustrates, comments on or is inspired by one of the poems that constitute for colored girls. The artists whose work will be featured in the exhibit are Amber Robles-Gordon, Beau McCall, Dianne Smith, Kathleen Granados, Kimberly Mayhorn, Margaret Rose Vendryes, Melissa Calderón, Michael Paul Britto, Pamela Council and Uday K. Dhar. Dr. Shange will appear in person at the October 14th opening. (She will also be a panelist at A Conversation With…, another Open Doors event, at Gateway Project Spaces on Sunday, October 15th.)

Dr. Ntozake Shange will attend the October 14th opening reception for i found god in myself.

“This exhibition underscores the conversation Dr. Shange started, extending the legacy and impact of her work into the visual arts medium,” explained Souleo, according to a statement about the exhibit, which debuted in 2014 at the Schomburg Center and La Maison d’art in New York, and has since traveled to Philadelphia and Houston.

i found god in myself will also include material from the Barnard Archives that highlights the creation and evolution of the original text, from its 1974 debut in Berkeley, California at a bar named Bacchanal to its Broadway run, for which featured actress Trazana Beverley won a Tony Award. Dr. Shange and cast also won an Obie Award for the Off-Broadway incarnation of the play.

“It is not only gratifying, but joyous to share for colored girls with the Newark community,” Dr. Shange said.

While Dr. Shange’s work focuses on black women, the artists Souleo called on to contribute to the exhibit are women and men across cultures and generations–a nod to the work’s transcendent impact, and also “to demonstrate that the banner of feminism can and must be carried and waved by every ally who shares its tenets of social justice,” according to a curatorial statement about the exhibit.

That statement explained further that the exhibit is meant to “respect the origins of Dr. Shange’s work while bringing it forward into today’s expanded conversation on human rights.”

cWOW is the state’s oldest alternative art space. Executive director fayemi shakur said it is an “honor to share Dr. Shange’s work” at the gallery.

 

Click HERE to read the article in full.

 

Click HERE to view available artwork by AMBER ROBLES-GORDON.

AMBER ROBLES GORDON at the Houston Museum of African-American Culture

THE HOUSTON MUSEUM OF AFRICAN-AMERICAN CULTURE PRESENTS  i found god in myself: a celebration of Dr. Ntozake Shange’s, for colored girls

OPEN TO THE PUBLIC FRIDAY, MARCH 10, 2017 THROUGH APRIL 15, 2017  Houston, TX- February 7, 2017— In honor of Women’s History Month, The Houston Museum of African-American Culture (HMAAC) is proud to present, i found god in myself: a celebration of Dr. Ntozake Shange’s for colored girls, curated by Souleo. The exhibit celebrates the genre bending, award-winning choreopoem/play, for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf, which debuted on Broadway in 1976.

Through 10 commissioned artworks by artists including Houston native Kimberly Mayhorn, Dianne Smith, Margaret Rose Vendryes and Amber Robles-Gordon the exhibition is a tribute to the Broadway play. Each work honors an individual poem and underscores their enduring significance in highlighting issues impacting the lives of women of color such as sexuality, race, sisterhood, violence and self-love depicted in and inspired by Dr. Shange’s work.

 “This exhibition underscores the conversation Dr. Shange started, extending the legacy and impact of her work into the visual arts medium,” explains Souleo, curator of i found god in myself. “The issues surrounding love, sexuality, gender equality, racial identity, and, ultimately, self-love explored by her work remain relevant today,” said Souleo.

 The exhibition will also include archival material that highlights the creation and evolution of the original text from its 1974 California debut to its Broadway run from the Barnard Archives and Special Collections at Barnard College.

 i found god in myself originally debuted in 2014 at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Long Gallery Harlem (formerly The Sol Studio) and La Maison d’Art. It has since traveled to the African American Museum in Philadelphia and is now presented at HMAAC.

Special programming accompanying the exhibition includes:
Friday, March 10, 6:30-8:30 PM: Opening Reception at HMAAC with curator and select exhibiting artists in attendance. Wine and light fare will be provided.

A full listing of related public programs can be found at www.hmaac.org

Exhibiting Artists: 

Amber Robles-Gordon, Beau McCall, Dianne Smith, Kathleen Granados, Kimberly Mayhorn, Margaret Rose Vendryes, Melissa Calderón, Michael Paul Britto, Pamela Council, and Uday K. Dhar.
###ABOUT HOUSTON MUSEUM OF AFRICAN AMERICAN CULTURE 
The mission of the Houston Museum of African American Culture (HMAAC) is to collect, conserve, explore, interpret, and exhibit the material and intellectual culture of Africans and African Americans in Houston, the state of Texas, the southwest and the African Diaspora for current and future generations. HMAAC explores stories inspired by themes of opportunity, empowerment, creativity, and innovation and cultural interrelationships through the lens of the African American experience.

 About Dr. Ntozake Shange:

Ntozake Shange is an American playwright, and poet. As a self-proclaimed black feminist, she addresses issues relating to race and feminism in much of her work.  Shange is best known for the Obie Award-winning play, For Colored Girls.  She has also written several novels including Sassafrass, Cypress & Indigo, Liliane, and Betsey Brown. Among her honors and awards are fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the Lila Wallace Reader’s Digest Fund, and a Pushcart Prize.

 About Peter “Souleo” Wright:

Peter “Souleo” Wright creates and produces entertaining and informative events, exhibitions, cultural programs and media content. Souleo has collaborated with noteworthy institutions and brands including the New York Public Library, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Stax Museum of American Soul Music, Leslie Lohman Museum of Gay & Lesbian Art, AARP, Huffington Post, EBONY and more. Souleo’s work has been widely covered outlets including the Associated Press, NY Times, NBC and more.