“Duppy is strong, but no matter how strong he is, he can’t come in the house if you put tobacco seed over the door.”

– Zora Neale Hurston, “Tell My Horse“

Using an extract from Zora Neale Hurston’s Tell My Horse as a departure point, Do You Remember the Floorboards? is an online artist talk with LA-based sculptor Bri Williams, organised and facilitated by OSE Associate James Jordan Johnson.

Using soap as a primary material in their work along with family and found objects, their sculptures consider the conditions of personal memory, trauma, and the illegible grounds of spiritual phenomena through human and object possession. In this talk, Bri Williams will discuss the role of the domestic space, Afro-diasporic material connections and the life-cycles of objects.

Schedule

3-3.45pm: Talk
3.45-4.15pm: Q&A

Booking

This session will be taking place online via Zoom and you must book a place via Eventbrite to access this. If you have difficulty with this then please email info@openschooleast.org well before the event starts so that we can assist you. When joining, please ensure that your mic is muted unless you are speaking. These sessions may be recorded for archival and promotional purposes, so please switch off your video feed if you do not wish to be included in this. Please join early to avoid delays (there may be a queue, the host will let you in to the session).

About the artist

Bri Williams (b.1993) received their BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2015 and their MFA from Mills College in 2017. Recent solo exhibitions include Et al etc. San Francisco, CA (2021); Murmurs, LA (2020); and Queer Thoughts, NY (2020). Recent group exhibitions include Smart Objects, Los Angeles, CA (2021); Kunstraum Niederoesterreich, Vienna, Austria (2021); Thierry Goldberg, New York, NY (2021); and a two person exhibition at Kunsthaus Glarus, Switzerland (2021).