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In Residence: January
10 – March 3, 2011
Exhibition/Performance: Thursday & Friday, March 3 & 4, 6-8:30
Exhibition continues through March 25, 2011
Learning Lab: Joan Farley Academy, Third Way Center
Good Grief – an exploration
of loss.
Andrea Moore + Joan Farley Academy
poetry, performance and visual art
Thursday and Friday, March 3 + 4
6-8:30 pm; 6:30 youth slam poetry; 7:00 performance by Andrea Moore
Exhibition continues through March 25
Good Grief is a one-woman performance and exhibit Andrea created
in response to the death of her father four years ago. The material reflects on personal and
cultural perceptions of grief with a particular emphasis on the pressure in
American culture to make sense of loss and rebound quickly. Andrea stretches
this notion to its extreme, using graphs, numerical data, and information
batching to visually quantify an experience that defies linear expression. She also employs performance poetry and
storytelling to connect the dots and give context to the visual art.
Andrea’s creative process mirrors her own grief experience: in the moment, the work is reactionary, disconnected, and responsive. Only in hindsight is it possible to make “sense” of the journey and isolate themes and through lines. The writing and performance explore two main tensions – our infinite desires cannot be satisfied by finite resources, and grief flares when our core assumptions and expectations are replaced by reality. The work is bolstered by photographs exploring these themes, including portraits of children in Uganda who have been orphaned, primarily by AIDS, as well as portraits of Andrea’s father in the final days of his illness and of his body after his passing.
During her residency, Andrea led an intense series of poetry workshops with eleven amazing teens from Joan Farley Academy. The workshops guided the teenagers in developing, editing, and performing their own slam poems. Andrea’s goal was for each student to work toward developing a single, memorized slam poem that they could perform at any of the various open mics around the city. The process was amazing to watch as the youth each expressed their unique voices through poetry. Slam poetry is a powerful art form that resonates through the space, filling the gallery with passion, angst and possibilities. Andrea's website.
Check out Westword's blog about this project.
My residency at PlatteForum made me feel like a plant getting watered! PlatteForum gave me the resources and support to achieve a creative and professional breakthrough. My time in residence fundamentally altered how I perceive myself as an artist. I feel more confident, more empowered, and more certain than ever that I’m pursuing an essential path. Andrea Moore