Back

Shaping the Past Exhibition – Black Spatial Relics

Black Spatial Relics merges performance, site-specific research, and public history to reframe transatlantic narratives of enslavement and resistance. Founder Arielle Julia Brown is a cultural worker and dramaturge dedicated to bringing attention to stories of “slavery, justice, and freedom” along the American Eastern Seaboard. Currently based in Philadelphia, Black Spatial Relics supports emerging and mid-career artists through residency programs, public events and performances, collective research, and a co-mentorship program.

Arielle Brown envisioned Black Spatial Relics as a space for “artists [to] develop performances that engage music/sound, dance, theatre, or performance installation and/or ritual, and spoken word. The residency enables artists to develop works that engage the public history of slavery and bridge or incorporate systemic and inherited connections with contemporary issues of injustice.”

instagram.com/blackspatialrelics
 

Arielle Julia Brown

Arielle Julia Brown

© Arielle Julia Brown

1/4

Jodie Lyn-Kee-Chow performs “Junkanooacome,” 2018

Jodie Lyn-Kee-Chow performs “Junkanooacome,” 2018

Courtesy of Arielle Brown, Photo by M. Charlene Stevens

2/4

Rayla Meshawn performs Untitled at the Black Spatial Relics Showcase at the Painted Bride Art Center, Philadelphia, 2019 Courtesy of the artist

Rayla Meshawn performs “Untitled” at the Black Spatial Relics Showcase at the Painted Bride Art Center, Philadelphia, 2019 Courtesy of the artist

Courtesy of the artist, Photo by Shanel Edwards

3/4

Arielle Julia Brown: Black Spatial Relic

Arielle Julia Brown: Black Spatial Relic

© Goethe-Institut e.V.

4/4