| Press Releases
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Elia Arce
(work) 713.524.7821
(e) elia@vbbarts.org
(url) www.vbbarts.org
Voices Breaking Boundaries presents
Empowering Jena :: Keep the Movement Moving
Sunday, December 2, 2007, 7 pm onward
Home of Robert Pruitt, 2218 Arbor Street, Houston, TX 77004
General admission: Free
(HOUSTON, November 20, 2007) — Continuing with its Living Room Art series, this time in the home of artist Robert Pruitt, VBB will exhibit photography by artist Everett Taasevigen whose images capture the September 20, 2007 Jena protest organized by Brother Deric C. Muhammad to support the six young men inequitably incarcerated for their participation in the escalating racial violence occurring in Jena. Empowering Jena :: Keep the Movement Moving combines Taasevigen’s images with the voice of march organizer Brother Deric C. Muhammad to bring the story of the march alive for both the eye and the ear. In true VBB style—mixing different disciplines, artists and issues—performing artist Sunni Patterson will perform her work about the difficulties faced by those hurt by such injustices. Empowering Jena makes real the power of community to stand up for their rights and effectively make a difference in a world where not everyone is treated equally.
“Empowering Jena,” says VBB Arts Director Oskar Sonnen, “shows the very real power of people to improve the world around them despite the odds among African American men to be incarcerated, given unjust sentencing, and put upon death row—in Texas where only 12 percent of the population is African-American, almost half the persons on death row are African-American.”
About the Artists:
Everett Taasevigen first started taking pictures as a kid with film then moved into digital photography as an adult. Taasevigen is an artist sensitive and open to ideas of change and art as a means to communicate these changes, be it social or interpersonal. Furthering his ideas of change, Taasevigen lives in Houston after moving from California to further his passion for photography.
Emerging from New Orleans, artist and visionary Sunni Patterson combines the heritage and tradition of her Native town with an enlightened modern world view to create music and poetry that is timeless in its groove. Sunni has been a featured performer at the many of premier spoken word venues, including HBO's Def Poetry Jam. She has worked with several well known artists and performers including Amiri Baraka, Laini Kuumba Afrikan Dance Company, and many more. Patterson last performed in Houston with VBB at our Un/Natural Disaster: Katrina-Kashmir event (February 2007).
Robert Pruitt, a Houston-based artist who takes a tongue-in-cheek look at the issues of race and identity in today’s society. His work, which ranges from drawings on paper to sculpture, video, and installations, draws upon the vernacular of black culture to examine the historical and contemporary struggles of black Americans. Pruitt himself and also as a member of Otabenga Jones & Associates was included in the 2006 Whitney Biennial and has shown individually at the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston in addition to many other spaces around the world.
Brother Deric Muhammad serves as the Millions More Movement Minister of Justice, whose voice in opposition to the forces of injustice is being heard nationwide. He is a student of the teachings of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad and a follower of the example of The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan. Deric Muhammad believes people are given power for only one reason: to serve others.
Cosponsored by KPFT Pacifica 90.1 FM.
For more information contact VBB Arts Director Elia Arce
at 713 524 7821 or email elia@vbbarts.org
VBB also offers education programs for teens and adults.
Please visit our website, www.vbbarts.org, for information
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