By Tenea D. Johnson
Spiral Full Circle
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January 27 at 7 pm
Museum of Fine Arts
Details here
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Generally, I eschew introductions to readings. Today, an exception.
On January 27, I’ll be joining saxophonist Butch Thomas and actor Cranston Cumberbatch at the Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg to perform work inspired by Spiral, a short-lived but impactful group of Black artists that was formed in the Civil Rights era.
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My contribution will be speculative fiction with an interplay of projected work created by those in Spiral, predominantly Emma Amos (the only woman in the group), Reginald Gammon and Norman Lewis.
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Inspired by the ethos of Spiral—exploring the Black artist’s role in social justice as well as the power of abstraction to convey such matters—and within its tradition, I’ll present a piece that uses the abstraction of speculative fiction to, like Spiral did during the Civil Rights era, examine our moment in history.
Something must be said about our times. Don’t you agree?
We must have more than dread and breathless recounting of the challenges we face and the changes underway, as well the ones that haven’t come but may yet still.
By incorporating Spiral’s work into my performance I endeavor to add to the dialogue between artists of different eras and mediums, gesture toward the graphic novel and the ekphrastic form (shout out to Keep St. Pete Lit for keeping ‘ekphrastic’ in the local zeitgeist), create resonance as nuanced and layered as American history, and to stand with those in our community who are assessing the terrain in advance of our next collective move forward.
I’ll hope you’ll join us—in spirit if not in the flesh.*
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Explore the work of Tenea D. Johnson at teneadjohnson.com
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Find out more about Spiral
How the Spiral Group Amplified the Diversity of Black Artists in 1960s America
The Life and Legacy of the Spiral Group
Spiral and the Black Arts Movement
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*The MFA’s covid protocols are still in effect so hopefully that’s one less worry for you.
