An Ode To...
A Seat At The Table
Solange recently curated an art-FULL performance at the Guggenheim Museum in New York. Displaying a live ode to her grammy award winning album 'A seat at the table.' Solange's request was that attendees come dressed in all white and leave all cellular devices in the front before entering. The all white accompanied with the white marble floors in the museum added a brilliance of color with a sea of different skin tones in the crowd.
Her band members wore all brown, yellow, or red. The first song performed was 'Rise' using trumpets, the sound echoed throughout the museum giving it an extra vibration affect. Followed by 'Weary' and 'Cranes in the sky' the band often moved in unison with each other or Solange as they held and played their instruments.
A source says, with a new arrangement of the song 'Mad' came one of the show's finest moments. Almost serving as a thesis by interpreting and adapting to the album's lyrics into a interdisciplinary performance piece. Solange brought drama to the song's breakdown of the "angry black girl" stereotype in order to proclaim her very own right to feel mad if she wanted to express this feeling without regret.
Throughout the entire performance piece Solange demands and encourages more representation in the art world from black women. Critics or people in the audience said this was the most beautiful most creative art-felt performance to have been viewed in person. She had our undivided attention and we were listening.
Solange recently curated an art-FULL performance at the Guggenheim Museum in New York. Displaying a live ode to her grammy award winning album 'A seat at the table.' Solange's request was that attendees come dressed in all white and leave all cellular devices in the front before entering. The all white accompanied with the white marble floors in the museum added a brilliance of color with a sea of different skin tones in the crowd.
Her band members wore all brown, yellow, or red. The first song performed was 'Rise' using trumpets, the sound echoed throughout the museum giving it an extra vibration affect. Followed by 'Weary' and 'Cranes in the sky' the band often moved in unison with each other or Solange as they held and played their instruments.
A source says, with a new arrangement of the song 'Mad' came one of the show's finest moments. Almost serving as a thesis by interpreting and adapting to the album's lyrics into a interdisciplinary performance piece. Solange brought drama to the song's breakdown of the "angry black girl" stereotype in order to proclaim her very own right to feel mad if she wanted to express this feeling without regret.
Throughout the entire performance piece Solange demands and encourages more representation in the art world from black women. Critics or people in the audience said this was the most beautiful most creative art-felt performance to have been viewed in person. She had our undivided attention and we were listening.
"The performance was one of the finest ways an album has been presented in years, and Solange firmly placed herself as someone who will be regarded as one of her generations finest and most forward-thinking artists and innovators." -Rolling Stone
Solange offered a limited edition art book of a seat at the table. Since I am so fascinated with art and creativity I purchased the book. It is unique filled with stills from her music videos on one side and the lyrics to all of her songs created in different fonts and format on the other. It is a book to admire. I went to the Birmingham Museum of Art over the weekend to snap a few photographs of all of the images that stood out to me and some of the lyrics that I could relate to most. One of my favorite songs off of the album will have to be Cranes in the sky. The lyrics:
These lyrics I feel the most related to because I KNOW this space. I have been here as a creative, I've been lonely, and heart broken. This space sounds and feels so familiar. Very well written and visually executed. **I ran my credit card bill up. Thought a new dress would make me feel better. I tried to work it away. But that just made me even sadder. I tried to let go my lover. Thought if I was alone then I could recover. To write it away or cry it away. Away away away away away away away. Well its like Cranes in the sky....
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