Assata’s Chant and Other Histories is a multimedia Archive project consisting of an award nominated audio series, exhibitions and workshops.
The project fuses visual art, interviews, readings, immersive storytelling, music and sound design to tell an anthology of histories from the 20th century Black Liberation Movement with particular focus on Assata Shakur but including the likes of Altheia Jones Lecointe, Fred Hampton, Connie Matthews, Mutulu Shakur and Sundiata Acoli and more.
This page details two examples from the project that should help in the creation of your pieces. Both are rooted in archival research and recreate a person from this research using audio.
Episode 9
Format : Audio documentary
Contributors: 2 guests + 1 voice over actor
This episode, focuses on Connie Matthews the Jamaican, international coordinator of the BPP.
But what is the BPP…
Located in the Belltown neighborhood of Seattle - Wade specializes in event, performance and portrait photography. Robert Wade's editorial and commercial photographs have been published in magazines including Art Forum, Art in America, the Seattle Times, SF Gate and GQ, and his event photography clients include numerous for-profit and non-profit organizations.
from the Black Panther Newspaper published July 16th 1969
Using the my cultural and historical understanding of Jamaican speech as a dialect guide I worked with my sister and collaborator Ffriondra to create an audio surrogate of a number of Connie’s statement which you can listen to in full here
Dr Ethelene Whitmire is a professor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison affiliated with the departments of African American Studies, German, Nordic, and Slavic, and Gender & Women’s Studies. She received an American-Scandinavian Foundation fellowship and a Lois Roth Endowment grant to support this project. She was also a 2016-2017 Fulbright Scholar and visiting professor at the University of Copenhagen’s Center for Transnational American Studies.
Episode 11
Format : Audio documentary
Contributors: 0 guests, 1 voice over actor
This episode, focuses on Joan Bird, another woman of Jamaican descent in the BPP who was part of the famous NY Panther 21 trial which was the longest and most expensive trial in NY state history at the time.
The trial was covered in a number of books which i read and closely made notes from
After Joan’s Brutal arrest a statement she wrote was released to the press. a copy of this statement is held by Michigan State University archive.
I decided to recreate this statement
This video found on associated press’ Youtube Channel showed us Joan Bird’s voice and speech pattern.
Using the video as a dialect guide I worked with my friend and collaborator Sophia Brown to create an audio surrogate of the statement which you can listen to in full here
