| Venus
Opal Reese will direct Medea, Nov.
4-13. This adaptation of the classic Euripides
tragedy is set against the backdrop of the
Antebellum South. Is Love ownership? Who
can be bought and sold? Who has the “right”
to give life or take it away? Are your children
your property? Is your husband or wife truly
yours? Are citizens the property of the
state-or slaves? Is anyone truly free? This
performance seeks to answer those questions.
Using dance, vocals, and poetry, the themes
of love, citizenship, and property illuminate
this timeless classic in an American context.
Choreography will be provided by UTD faculty
members Monica Saba and Michele Hanlon.
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Special thanks to Chinwe Chukwuogo-Roy
for the use of her painting. About
the painting:
Scream
A disturbing painting, this is one of two
which express the artist's profound feelings
about the fate of millions of people who
suffered terrifying ordeals as a result
of the slave trade. A single face screaming
in anguish has provided some of the strongest
images in Western art, especially in the
work of expressionist artists such as Munch
and Francis Bacon. This picture has a similarly
direct, aggressive character which is inescapable.
The central image is based on studies Chinwe
made of herself screaming into a large mirror
in her studio, to portray her feeling, having
read at least sixty books, visited museums
and sites in her research into this holocaust.
The face is surrounded by episodes describing
man's inhumanity to fellow man - people
taken in chains, working on a plantation,
being whipped, hanging from trees - while
the rosy-cheeked, healthy and wealthy profit
from the human misery and sorrow. A cigar
is given prominence as a symbol of wealth,
arrogance and not caring. A child with shackled
neck and hands with child’s innocence
looks out at the spectator in indictment,
tears running down her face.
Artist: Chinwe Chukwuogo-Roy
Title: Scream
Medium: Oil on Canvas
Date: 1998
Size: 75.5” x 91.5”
Website: www.chinwegallery.com
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