A few weeks ago, on a very special Tuesday, in the very Silverlake, art, music, and, poetry came together at The Satellite. BA Williams (@bawthewriteher) performed on her knees in the center of the dance floor.
A recorded voice spoke from the empty stage. Williams, silent beneath a pattern of sparse round lights, wrote in pen on fluorescent post-it notes.
[Sasha Ross Photography]
Leaning over a posterboard canvas with sprawling chalkboard-punishment-like phrase repetition, she rearranged large paper letters, decorations often used to make celebratory signs on birthdays or graduations, to spell out “queer,” “gay,” and derogatory terms.
[Sasha Ross Photography]
Williams spread rose petals and kitty litter on the poster board. The growth on the ground marked time as the recorded poem expanded and circled back into itself with the repetition of words reframed.
[Sasha Ross Photography]
Williams’ poetry became an installation for the night. The crowd that had stood in a semi-circle around the performance, could take a second, third, closer look.
[Sasha Ross Photography]
[Sasha Ross Photography]
BA Williams is a writer, performer, and curator. She directs the Art Realm events through the Arts Council for Long Beach and co-hosts the Requiem for Sandra Bland series, Un::fade::able at Art Share LA.
Website: bawthewriteher.com
Instagram: @bawthewriteher
[Sasha Ross Photography]
About the event:
Sarah Norwood, vocalist+ of the psychedelic rock band AJ Froman, organized a crew of artists, musicians, and poets in conjunction with The Satellite. I had art all around the venue and performed a brief poem before Williams took the stage off the stage. Mu experimented with instrumental and vocal dance dream lullaby trips, Chenel King shared poems that traveled through space and time, accompanied by AJ Froman, and AJ Froman basically exploded the stage alongside the art of Jimmy Ovadia. Bristol to Memory brought the night to a hopping conclusion. All of this beneath the choreographed lights of Society of Shadows.
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Facebook: @LornaPhone and @LAWordSalon and @AffectComic
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I update my Exhibition Page with events and galleries that feature Lorna Phone art.
Check out the Disclosure Page to see a chronological evolution of my blog and art.
I share new art/discussions about the process of works in progress, and I’ll be delving back into my segments with Comic Lorna in my audiobio comic series called, Affect over the summer.
Current Collaborations:
Operator_Error– Collaboration on the album Affection has moved into collaboration on Affection 2! Plus, the band has released the album Minus the Umm in the meantime.
LAWordSalon– Creative community in Los Angeles, Long Beach, and on tour around you. Green, esteemed, established, curious. @LAWordSalon Instagram and Facebook documents live music and art around town
Otis Books- I’m an editor for this publication based out of the Otis School of Art and Design in Los Angeles. Check out our backlog.
Lorna Phone 