THE (CHRYSALIS) ARCHIVES, 2024

PerformanceSolo Exhibition

May 1

Written By Jaamil Kosoko

The (chrysalis) Archives, Commissioned by River to River Festival, (New York, NY)

Creator/Performer: jaamil olawale kosoko

Performance Doulas: Ebony Noelle Golden, Song Aziza Tucker

Composition/Audio Technician: Everett-Asis Saunders

Composition/Cello/DJ: Black Maij

Lighting Design: LD DeArmon

Body Paint: Joy Taney

Doula of Interdisciplinary Forms: Michelle Daly

The (chrysalis) Archives positions interdisciplinary artist jaamil olawale kosoko’s genre-bending, multi-layered, (a)synchronous mapping of their creative body of work into a space of restful suspension. Drawing from Black studies and queer theories of the body, this installation for River to River’s 50th anniversary brings together new and selected works in fabric, sculpture, video, text, syllabi, and performance to illuminate kosoko’s (chrysalis) as both a time-capsule as well as a metaphor for alternative modes of beauty, unpronounced states of being, and the counter strains of knowledge that emerge inside the conjuring of Black/BIPOC+ liberatory world-building.

Themes of metamorphosis, intergenerational memory, and environmental grief converge to examine and explore multimodal vocabularies, utterances, and grammars for speculative diasporic Black life in both its origins and possible futures to ponder the question of how do we alchemize a multi-generational inheritance of war-stricken negative space, extraction, and disinvestment into a thriving, abundant existence for all forms of earthly life and spirit? These works invite contemplation of what is left and what is lost in the aftermath of the living gesture. As you enter the space, you are encouraged to reflect, release, mourn, and for(e)get as a means to remember otherwise.

Additional funding and support for The (chrysalis) Archives is provided by MAP Fund, LMCC Extended Life program, MacDowell, Dance Advancement Fund, Subcircle Residency, La Becque Residency (Switzerland), PCT Fellowship, UT Austin Visiting Lecture Residency, Black Hole Hollow, and friends of kosoko performance studio.

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Installation view of The (chrysalis) Archives, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council's River to River Festival, Governor's Island Art Center, New York, 2024.

Detail of The (chrysalis) Archives, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council's River to River Festival, Governor's Island Art Center, New York, 2024.

ceasefire, 2024, string lights, sneakers of deceased brother, photographs, gold painted plaster casts, chiffon, sequined fabric, skull and mattress foam shrouded in silk, other mixed media, dimensions variable.

Detail, ceasefire, 2024, string lights, sneakers of deceased brother, photographs, gold painted plaster casts, chiffon, sequined fabric, skull and mattress foam shrouded in silk, other mixed media, dimensions variable.

Detail, Shrouded Altar, 2024, wooden bench, faux sheepskin rug, lace, sequined fabric, satin, Polaroids, gold-painted plaster casts, rubber horse mask, command strips, oil and acrylic painting from 2013, photographic print on canvas from 2013 treated with spray paint, metallic gold paint, and Sharpie, metal chain, dimensions variable.

Detail, MAN-NOT, 2024, The Man-Not: Race, Class, Genre, and the Dilemmas of Black Manhood by Tommy J. Curry, faux sheepskin rug, lace, string curtain, satin, gold-painted plaster casts, vase, faux peacock feathers, command strips, embroidered poem on cotton tapestry, oil and acrylic painting, photographic print on canvas from 2013 treated with spray paint, metallic gold paint, and Sharpie, metal chain, dimensions variable.

Untitled from Black Male Revisited, 2024, sheer silk/poly blend, photographic print on canvas from 2013 treated with spray paint, acrylic paint, silver and gold confetti, metallic gold paint, Sharpie, metal chain, command strips, dimensions variable.

Detail, Untitled from Black Male Revisited, 2024, sheer silk/poly blend, photographic print on canvas from 2013 treated with spray paint, acrylic paint, silver and gold confetti, metallic gold paint, Sharpie, metal chain, command strips, dimensions variable.

Chameleon Print, 2022, photographic print on polyester, 7.3" x 4.5".

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Séancers (live) at American Realness, New York, 2018
Séancers at Beursschouwburg, Brussels, Belgium, 2017 (installation video)

concept/performance/installation design: jaamil olawale kosoko
performance doulas: Imma Asher, Jennifer Kidwell, M. Lamar
associate costume design/fabrication: Simone Duff
dramaturg: Emily Reilly
makeup: Joy Taney
sound designer/séancer: Jeremy Toussaint-Baptiste
wardrobe: SaVonne Whitfield
lighting designer: Serena Wong

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Syllabus for Black Love, 2022, 3-channel film installation, 14:36 minutes.

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Rest stations. We invite you to take a moment to rest. Lay down on one of the provided cushions. Take in the space. Reflect, release, mourn, and for(e)get.

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Shrouded Altar, 2024, wooden bench, faux sheepskin rug, lace, sequined fabric, satin, Polaroids, gold-painted plaster casts, rubber horse mask, command strips, oil and acrylic painting from 2013, photographic print on canvas from 2013 treated with spray paint, metallic gold paint, and Sharpie, metal chain, dimensions variable.

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MAN-NOT, 2024, faux sheepskin rug, lace, string curtain, satin, gold-painted plaster casts, vase, faux peacock feathers, command strips, embroidered poem on cotton tapestry, oil and acrylic painting from 2013, photographic print on canvas from 2013 treated with spray paint, metallic gold paint, and Sharpie, metal chain, dimensions variable.

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Untitled from Black Male Revisited, 2024, sheer silk/poly blend, photographic print on canvas from 2013 treated with spray paint, acrylic paint, silver and gold confetti, metallic gold paint, Sharpie, metal chain, command strips, dimensions variable.

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Chameleon (A Visual Album), 2020, 21:15 minutes.

co-director/concept/choreographer/performer/ styling/music: jaamil olawale kosoko
co-director/director of cinematography: Ima Iduozee
assistant director: Geoff Abbas
music: mayfield brooks, La Belles, Everett Asis Saunders

see film for full credits