Newcomb Art Museum, New Orleans Center for the Gulf South, and A Studio in the Woods host virtual ‘Uncommon Exchanges’
The Newcomb Art Museum in partnership with the New Orleans Center for the Gulf South, A Studio in the Woods and the ByWater Institute at Tulane invite all to attend a virtual version of their interdisciplinary program Uncommon Exchanges at 6 p.m. CT on Wednesday, April 21, via Zoom. This digital event features the expertise of interdisciplinary artist LaChaun Moore and Sabia McCoy-Torres, who will engage in a unique dialogue using Newcomb Art Museum’s current exhibition, Laura Anderson Barbata: Transcommunality, as inspiration. A live Q&A between panelists and artist Laura Anderson Barbata will follow. More information can be found by clicking here and to register to attend via Zoom, click here.
The conversation will be moderated by Jeffrey Darensbourg, an enrolled member and tribal councilperson of the Atakapa-Ishak Nation of mixed Native and Louisiana Creole ancestry whose work explores the intersections of cultural studies, mixed ethnicity and Indigeneity. Moore and McCoy-Torres will use the themes of Transcommunality as a catalyst to discuss their own work and practices to address missing narratives and probe at how to use creative means in order to forge pathways toward a more equitable and just future. This iteration of Uncommon Exchanges focuses particularly on Anderson Barbata’s project, Intervention: Indigo, which is a multi-faceted, performance-based project that addresses, from an intercultural standpoint, the symbolism of protection embodied by the color blue.
Research by McCoy-Torres, an assistant professor jointly appointed in the Tulane’s Department of Anthropology and Program in Africana Studies, focuses on the English and Spanish-speaking African Diaspora, race, gender/sexuality, transnationalism, and Black popular music and performance. Moore is an interdisciplinary artist who engages the public with her ethnographic fiber making and research practice focusing on plant species that are linked specifically to Black and Indigenous farmers who have been systematically exploited for their agricultural ingenuity. As a former resident of A Studio in the Woods, she created an agriculturally based installation titled Heirloom, which utilized heirloom plants as a launching point to talk about the historical context of the natural environment and how that differs from ancestral and family ties.
Following the live conversation, Darensbourg, Moore, and McCoy-Torres will be joined by Anderson Barbata for an audience-driven Q&A. Anderson Barbata is a bi-cultural, transdisciplinary artist who has developed sustainable art-centered projects since 1992 that integrate collaborative and participatory work that addresses issues of social justice and environment and whose work is currently on view at the Newcomb Art Museum.
Pairing unlikely Tulane and Gulf South experts together, Uncommon Exchanges: Indigo, is funded in part under a grant from the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities, the state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this program do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities. They are also supported in part by a New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation Community Partnership Grant and by a Community Arts Grant made possible by the City of New Orleans. More information on Newcomb Art Museum’s exhibitions and public programs can be found at newcombartmuseum.tulane.edu.
