Troubling Performance

This one-day symposium will consider representations of race in performance in connection to the work of visual artist Kara Walker, whose exhibition “Back of Hand” will be on display at the Athenaeum. Taking Walker as a departure point, invited speakers will address themes related to rethinking Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess, satire, stereotypes, gender, and identity.

The Keynote Speaker is Daphne Brooks, William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of African American Studies, American Studies, Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, and Music at Yale University. Speakers include Kirsten Pai Buick, professor of art history, University of New Mexico; Troy Michie, visual artist; and Isaiah Wooden, assistant professor of theater, Swarthmore.

This symposium is sponsored by the Association of Graduate Art Students (AGAS) at the Lamar Dodd School of Art, the UGA Art Library, the UGA Black Artists Alliance, the Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library, the UGA Institute for African American Studies, the UGA Institute for Women's Studies, the Mod Squad, and the Willson Center for Humanities & Arts.

More details and itinerary forthcoming.