The Frye Art Museum and On the Boards are pleased to present this performance by Sadiqua Iman in response to the work of Anastacia-Reneé as part of Murmurations, a Seattle-wide arts collaboration.
As a current Artist-in-Residence with On the Boards, Sadiqua Iman is expanding her work as both an arts critic and performing artist to embody the world of various artworks by Black artists around Seattle. She is exploring four venues displaying Black art in the spring of 2021—the Frye Art Museum, Wa Na Wari, The Black Lives Matter Mural by Vivid Matter Collective, and Gallery Erato—and responding to the artworks on view through dance and movement. Each piece is filmed and edited by Iranian American filmmaker Kamyar Mohsenin.
In her first performance of this series at the Frye Art Museum, Momentum of the Muse: if Alice… Sadiqua embodied Alice, the central character of (Don't be Absurd) Alice in Parts, a solo exhibition by multi-genre writer and interdisciplinary artist Anastacia-Reneé. Presented as an immersive installation that invites visitors to walk through Alice’s soon-to-be gentrified home, the exhibition charts the ways Alice strives for wholeness and transcendence against interlocking forms of oppression that relentlessly fracture her sense of self.
Sadiqua Iman is an interdisciplinary African American artist who uses dance and spoken word to explore visual art and written text. She is the Artistic Director of Earth Pearl Collective and Co-Founder of Nile's Edge Healing Arts. Sadiqua has worked with University of Washington’s Black Embodiment Studio and has published work with the Jacob Lawrence Art Gallery, and is a 2021 On the Boards Artist-in-Residence.
Anastacia-Reneé (American, b. 1972, Kansas City, Missouri) is an award-winning, widely published writer, playwright, TEDx speaker, Deep End podcast cohost, and interdisciplinary artist who lives and works in Seattle. A 4Culture Arc Artist Fellow (2020) and Jack Straw Writers Program curator (2020), Anastacia-Reneé was the Seattle Civic Poet (2017–19) and Poet-in-Residence at Hugo House (2015–17). She has been selected for fellowships and residencies by Cave Canem, Hedgebrook, VONA, Artist Trust, Jack Straw Cultural Center, Ragdale, Mineral School, Hypatia-in-the-Woods, and the New Orleans Writers’ Residency. She is the author of five books, including two full-length manuscripts, (v.) (Black Ocean) and Forget It (Black Radish), and two plays 9 Ounces and Queer Mama Crossroads.
The On the Boards Artists-in-Residence program gives Northwest-based artists, selected by Artistic Director Rachel Cook, time, access, and support for rehearsal and technical experimentation by specifically investing in their individual artistic process and progress.
Murmurations is a Seattle-wide arts collaboration featuring a series of exhibitions, performances, screenings, community conversations, artist talks, and other programs co-developed between cultural organizations. Taking its name from the flight patterns of starling birds, whose survival depends on collective movement, Murmurations emerged in 2020 from a shared need to find new structures for engaging and presenting creative practices to the public. The presentations, unfolding throughout 2021, are organized by the Frye Art Museum, Henry Art Gallery, Jacob Lawrence Gallery, On the Boards, Northwest Film Forum, and Velocity Dance Center. Learn more about Murmurations and upcoming events.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
Explore this collection of recommended reading for the exhibition available for purchase at the Museum Store’s website.
Can’t see the exhibition in person? Explore a 3D tour of the immersive installation. If you prefer video to 3D, we invite you to view this this special tour of the exhibition, narrated by the restless, late-night thoughts and fears of Alice Metropolis, the main subject of the exhibition. Note: This video contains mature content and explicit language.