Join us for an outdoor public performance in front of the Gibbs Street Gallery on April 18th at 3PM. This performance will be led by Liz Miller, whose work is on view from April 2 – May 14, 2021 in the Kaplan Gallery.

This performance is a ritual cleansing of one of the sites where three African-Americans were lynched in the 1880s. Sidney Randolph was lynched a block from VisArts. Four performers will ritually cleanse the space. Each performer will serve as a surrogate for one of the lost lives; the creator of the ritual will preside as high priestess over the ceremony. The artist Liz Miller has conceived the ritual cleansing concept in conjunction with her wearable hair sculptures.

The ritual transforms these headdresses from adornment to artifact. The bond is sealed when the DNA of the wearer is deposited upon the pieces themselves. The sculptures are activated by the black bodies whose liberation and joy propel the ceremony. Not only do they cleanse and transform the energy of the space by their movements, but they are tapping into a rich reservoir of ancestral energy and releasing it into the present. Rather than seeking freedom from the colonizer, true emancipation comes from unlocking what is embedded within.

Performers: Liz Miller (high priestess), Adontae McCallum, Brian Rice, Kay Harvey Bonham

Learn more about Liz Miller’s Ritual Cleansing project

MICA MFAST 2020 Thesis Exhibitions