questions to ponder

A friend sent the E-mail below last week regarding a recent staging in New Orleans of Waiting For Godot; she raises some important, seemingly perpetual questions, and I have not yet responded to her.

Last night I went to see the last performance at the Brava Theater in San Francisco of

STARDUST and EMPTY WAGONS
Stories from the Katrina Diaspora
with music performed by The Hot 8 Brass Band
Script and Direction by Ellen Gavin

(photo by David Allen)

Developed from the testimony of Katrina survivors in the Bay Area, Stardust and Empty Wagons is a tribute to the culture, music and everyday life of a New Orleans now struggling to be reborn. With live music performed by New Orleans' own The Hot 8 Brass Band, ten actors portray tales of terror and bravery from the greatest disaster in U.S. history. Out of destruction always comes creation-so new life will rise from the scattered "stardust" that comprises the Katrina Diaspora.

Cast: Velina Brown, L. Peter Callender, Elizabeth Carter, Olivia Charles, Frederick Delahoussaye, Jeff Jones, Amber McZeal, Elizabeth Summers and Karla Vaughn. Visual design by Daniel Gamberg, set design by Mikiko Uesugi, lighting design by Cathie Anderson, photography by David Allen, Associate Producer, C.C. Campbell Rock.

Of course, my family is from New Orleans, so I was very moved by the whole thing, and we'd brought my 8-year old little sister, who didn't know what Katrina was until we got there (although as we found it it's her middle name), and though I'm sure much of it went over her head, she was very moved by it, too. (In truth, whenever I see a stage full of black folks I get choked up.) Ultimately the point that the performers/writers/survivors were trying to drive home is that their primary support came from individuals, not institutions, and that we must help keep their voices/stories alive; although their story has faded from the news, it remains an ongoing struggle (they're also seeking other venues to travel the show; if you're interested, E-mail CC Campbell-Rock@ survivorsforsurvivors@yahoo.com.

So when I re-read Lauren's E-mail this morning:

hi Everyone.....sorry for the mass mail......but i
would like your input.....these are questions i am
always pondering in regards to my own practice.....

http://creativetime.org/programs/archive/2007/chan/

waiting for godot staged in the 9th ward...and other
locations in new orleans.......paul chan..artist
project...

what do you think...?.....

interesting project....?..with altruistic
intentions..?...creative fundraiser......?.......or
another artistic exploitation by a visual artist of a
post katrina new orleans........or any other disaster
zone for that matter.......

if there is an ounce of "eploitation"......is this a
moot point when dollars are involved...?........the
end justifies the means.....

(sontag did it before chan in 93 in
sarajevo.....before that...some guy did it in the 50s
at san quentin penitentiary....)

SFKO

I couldn't help contrast these two projects, particularly in terms of funding and resources. I mean, let's start with the website, which we all assume is basic these days. Waiting for Godot in New Orleans' site starts out with a simple but starkly elegant and dramatic fade-in; Stardust and Empty Wagons doesn't even have a site. SaEW is actively seeking funding to continue its production; WfGiNO is produced by Creative Time, a New York-based non-profit, and the Classical Theatre of Harlem. Those are just a couple of the more obvious differences.

I've been researching black photographers and publishing lately, and one of the things by which I was struck was that in the last couple of years the number of projects about black people being published, though still scant, outnumbered the number of projects by black people (even the SMH's magazine features one such project--David Yellen's Hair Wars, which seemed to me, in 2007, to be problematic. And I couldn't help but think about these in the same terms--when black artists are still grossly underrepresented as the originators of artworks (not as the subjects, or even collaborators), then this kind of thing just perpetuates the gaze, no? It's hard to even consider these projects on their merits alone (which I'm sure are many) because the glaring inequity just rankles.

Samo, samo.