EVENTS
IMAGINE ISABELLA: A SOLO PERFORMANCE¬
Julianna Siddiqi performs Imagine Isabella in Cash Crop, an exhibition by artist Stephen Hayes.
Imagine Isabella is a solo performance exploring the lives of Antony and Isabella, two of the first 20 enslaved Africans arriving at Point Comfort, Virginia in 1619, and their enslaver Captain Tucker. Performed inside the Virginia MOCA galleries, Imagine Isabella uses the artwork of Kara Walker: Cut to the Quick as a backdrop to bridge art and story. This fictionalized tale evolves from historical facts to an imaginative interpretation of Isabella’s life from coming out of the shadows of pain and into the light of resilience. Imagine Isabella is set to classical and contemporary music by artists of African descent and is written, produced, and performed by Julianna Siddiqi. A moderated talkback will follow the performance.
ABOUT JULIANNA SIDDIQI
Julianna Siddiqi is a multi-media artist living in Hampton Roads. Her work strives to discover the treasures that emerge from art, in stories. Julianna holds a Master of Arts degree from Seton Hall University. She has performed and exhibited her works in theaters and galleries in the U.S. and Nigeria. Imagine Isabella was created and first performed in 2019 to coincide with the Hampton Roads commemoration of the 1619 African Landing. The performance was inspired by Cash Crop, an exhibition by artist Stephen Hayes, at the Peninsula Fine Arts Center in Newport News. Siddiqi has since exhibited in Richmond, Virginia and continues to write, draw, paint, and collaborate with artists, folklorists, and design engineers.
EXHIBITION
Kara Walker: Cut to the Quick From the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation
MAIN GALLERY
A leading artist of her generation, Kara Walker (b. 1969) works in a range of mediums, including prints, drawings, paintings, sculpture, film, and the large-scale silhouette cutouts for which she is perhaps most recognized. Her powerful and provocative images employ contradictions to critique the painful legacies of slavery, sexism, violence, imperialism, and other power structures, including those in the history and hierarchies of art and contemporary culture.