COS x Serpentine Galleries Park Nights 2019
Blackbird In Mississippi
Written and Directed: Shawanda Corbett
Performed: Shawanda Corbett
Choreography: Albert Corbett
Violist: Andrea Fortier
Vocal Arrangment & Choral Direction: Harrison Atlee
Choir: Anton Denny, Cartell Green Brown, Leon Jacques, Leanna Leid, Zaza Lewis-Wright, Monique Meade, Siziwe Sayiya, Aeo Smith, and Antoinette Thelwell
Bringing Mississippi to the Serpentine Galleries Park Nights, the live performance is about the perspective of a black woman with a physical disability. The performance draws a parallel comparison between a slave and their journey on the underground railroad, and my experience in Mississippi and journey to the underground railroad’s destination for rehabilitation, Rochester, New York.
For the performance, a science fiction character is used as an inner dialogue. The character, haar wese, time travels (flashback) to the past in Mississippi to reflect. This flashback is a cinematic scene where music gives haar wese a voice. It is about finding placement in displacement.