Artists' Statement

Adam W. McKinney

When I arrived in Fort Worth, Texas, I learned of the 1921 racial-terror lynching of Mr. Fred Rouse. As I began to delve deeper into this undertold history, I asked individuals, organizations, and institutions what they knew about Mr. Fred Rouse. I soon realized that most had little to no information. Therein began my journey to remember Mr. Fred Rouse. With Will and Daniel Banks, I traveled to each of the five Fort Worth locations associated with the racial-terror lynching. Through choreography and photography, I used my body to remember Mr. Rouse by transporting my body across space and time, linking the anti-Black racial terror violence enacted upon Mr. Rouse to all the ways my own body has been, and is, targeted by racism. Will’s tintypes became the inspiration for DNAWORKS’s Fort Worth Lynching Tour: Honoring the Memory of Mr. Fred Rouse (FWLT) bike and car tours and the FWLT augmented reality app.

Will Wilson

In 2012 I began the Critical Indigenous Photographic Exchange (CIPX), centering Indigenous, ethics-based aesthetics through a critical dialogue around the photographic exchange we understand as portraiture. Ultimately, I want the subjects of my photographs to participate in the reinscription of their customs and values, leading to a more equal distribution of power and influence in the cultural conversation. In 2019 I commissioned Allison Johnson, professor of film at Santa Fe Community College, and Thomas Vause of Digital Ant Media (https://www.digitalantmedia.com) to develop the Talking Tintype app in order to give voice to my photographic subjects by bridging nineteenth- and twenty-first-century technologies. Also in 2019, Adam W. McKinney, professor of dance at Texas Christian University, invited me to collaborate on the Fred Rouse Memorial Project.

Daniel Banks

In Shelter in Place, we ask the viewer to enter an enclosed space, one of reflection, memory, and healing. The vestiges of violent histories are mindfully arranged in the container of a deconstructed sukkah, traditionally a space of respite, family, sharing, nourishment, and prayer. Our human family needs to reckon with these histories together and reflect on the tragedies of violence, unchecked power, and inexplicable hate. We invite all to walk through and comment on this world turned upside down in the presence of one another, experiencing the pain of memory simultaneously with the possibility for peace—a collective act of hope-building for a just society and a better world for all.

BIOS

Adam W. McKinney is a dancer, choreographer, activist, educator, and installation artist. He has danced professionally with Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Alonzo King LINES Ballet, and Milwaukee Ballet Company, among others. His research interests include dance and performance studies, trauma studies, community, trauma, healing, and technology. He is the co-artistic director of DNAWORKS, an arts and service organization committed to healing through the arts and dialogue. McKinney holds a BFA in dance performance from Butler University and an MFA in dance studies with concentrations in race and trauma theories from the Gallatin School at New York University. McKinney is Artistic Director of Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre.

Will Wilson’s art projects center around the continuity and flow of Indigenous cultural practice. He is a Diné photographer and transcustomary artist. Wilson studied photography, sculpture, and art history at the University of New Mexico (MFA, photography, 2002) and Oberlin College. In 2010 Wilson received the Joan Mitchell Foundation Award for Sculpture, in 2016 the Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant for Photography, and in 2017 the New Mexico Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts. Wilson is a committed educator who has taught at the Institute of American Indian Arts, Oberlin College, and the University of Arizona. Wilson is program head of photography at Santa Fe Community College.

Daniel Banks is a director, deviser, and dance dramaturg. He has worked in 36 states and 23 countries, including directing at National Theatre of Uganda; Belarussian National Drama Theatre; Market Theatre Lab, South Africa; and HERE Arts Center, John Houseman Theatre, and Public Theatre, NYC. He worked as movement director/choreographer at Shakespeare in the Park, Theatre for a New Audience, Singapore Rep, and La Monnaie Opera, and serves on the dramaturgical team for Camille A. Brown & Dancers. Daniel is Co-Director of DNAWORKS, Associate Director of Theatre Without Borders, and Founder of the Hip Hop Theatre Initiative. He is the 2020 recipient of TCG’s Alan Schneider Director Award.