How Corinne Bailey Rae and Theaster Gates are preserving Black culture | Amplify with Lara Downes
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- Опубликовано: 16 окт 2023
- Lara Downes | October 17, 2023
After we wrapped the shoot on this episode of Amplify, I called an Uber to take me from the Stony Island Arts Bank on Chicago's South Side back to my downtown hotel. The 30-minute ride along Lakeshore Drive was beautiful, with Lake Michigan shining a bright and hopeful blue.
I started chatting with my driver, and it was one of those conversations between strangers that quickly goes deep. We talked about life in her city and in mine, how people are getting along, or not, and how these are far from the best of times for many Americans. This led to a reflection about inherited trauma, the passing down of troubles from one generation to the next, and how, within the Black community especially, so much damage is caused by a legacy of buried truths and untold stories, the wounds we bear from not knowing the fullness of our history.
And so I told her about the Arts Bank.
This 100-year-old building, once slated for demolition and now restored thanks to the imagination, vision and tireless efforts of Theaster Gates and his Rebuild Foundation, is a shelter for our history. Gates has housed an immense archive - thousands of books, periodicals, images and objects that provide a multi-faceted documentation of Black life spanning centuries. It's a place to find our stories, to understand our past and then to dream our future.
Singer-songwriter Corinne Bailey Rae is one of many artists and scholars who have found revelation and inspiration in this space. An entire album has come from her experience at the Arts Bank - an initial visit in 2017 that she calls life-changing, and then her engagement as an inaugural Mellon Archives Innovation Fellow. The narratives and images she explored in the archives informed the songs on her bold and emotionally charged new release, Black Rainbows.
This conversation with Corinne and Theaster centers on the necessity of knowing the stories of our people so we can celebrate their triumphs and mourn their tragedies, so we can heal the scars we've inherited, make ourselves strong and healthy, and feel the freedom to write our own stories, in the fullness of our own truth.
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I haven't seen corrine bailey rae for years. Liked that one song she did way back in the 00s. Nice to see she's doing well still.
same
You’re talking about Put Your Records On and still to this day, I listen to it. That whole album is fire
Such a beautiful discussion 🎉 Thank you all for sharing your experiences and insights on how to improve the quality of the forgotten art and information lost and forgotten in literature. I grew up in the library 📚 and I can tell you how much reading a book can help you escape time
Wonderful artists doing incredible work. Much respect. Theaster, a long long road since your days at UCT and in Cape Town. Glorious to see you here and that you’re still pushing the pen and leaving your precious mark. You’re fondly remembered back in SA. Much success and blessings.
Loved every minute of this interview. I love the way his mind works. The determination and vision to see the beauty in the bones of these abandoned spaces. Honestly his work reminds me of the first visions of the city of Wakanda from the movie. A modern vision of thriving cities, art centers, universities and lush neighborhoods with libraries, cultural centers bursting with Black History. His work makes the mind flower. ✨
Corinne used to call into the Hifi club Leeds when I worked there, what a sweet soul. Be blessed. David Bahar Edinburgh Scotland.
Love Corinne. I need to look up more info on Theaster & Lara. Early morning browsing brought me here. I'm proud that I knew the Florence Pryce story of her lost and found music. This is an inspiring conversation and I'm thankful for it. It's beautiful.
i❤chicago...the water...the art...the culture❤
Fantastic
“Magazines were growing our national dignity.” Those words are so powerful and sad at the same time because our national dignity has changed so much. When people (other cultures)think of Black Americans, it’s in a negative light. There are a very small number of black entertainers that represents us in a positive light. Majority of the positives are an older generation.
On another note, I remember reading Harriet Jacob’s for the first time in my adult life. I couldn’t put the book down. It encouraged me to read more black history books. Not just African American history.
Whoo. This is so important
She's so pretty and classy
"A certain kind of glee/permission/why not?" Yes, Corinne!
👍👏👏👏⚘
yes yes yes
HAGAN UNA SESIÓN CON CAZZU TIENE MUCHO TALENTO ❤
We wouldn’t have to reimagine anything had nothing we created were torn down and destroyed (or stolen and claimed as someone else’s).
💕❤️💕
This Is ME
What's the intro song?
Whenever i hear Renaissance now i just think Beyoncé 😂
🫶🏽🫶🏽 🎶 🎼 🎵
Overwhelming emphasis on slavery, as if that is all black culture amounts to.
Why is this the only thing they ever talk about ? Its so boring. Race obsessed.
You dont have to watch
Oh, you're a troll? Well too late, already gave you the attention you wanted.
@@TheEnigmaticBM39 Whatever helps you sleep at night buddy.
I agree. Just enjoy music, black or white. Change the channel please😂
And white appropriate music and discredited their work. for example…Elvis Presley. There is a lot of history…music collections lost…
Can we preserve white culture or is that still evil?
It's already been done and continues to be. The argument is not the same when your history is rewritten and legally removed from curriculums.
@@18LUmo no one is rewriting black history, and it’s not been removed, there a whole month of it forced fed to people every month!
White culture was never evil. White supremacy delusions
is the issue.
The inability to tell the difference is also a big problem.
@18LUmo It's not though. Its actively being erased. You know this, but you are playing dumb.
TG! My fellow cyclone. 🩷💚💜💛