June 4-14, 2021
In early June, I embarked on an immersive, rigorous workshop in the field of Oral History with Oral History Summer School. Over the course of ten days, we covered interview techniques, project design, trauma, recording tutorials for online and in-person recording, and ethics, along with special topics related to the field. It was an amazing experience and provided me the opportunity to jump-start and ask questions of my upcoming projects in a supportive environment, while getting some real Oral History training under my belt. I will be incorporating this training for years to come into my art practice.
Guest instructors included Alissa Rae Funderbunk (Margaret Walker Center), Nicole Canuso (Nicole Canuso Dance Company), Sarita Daftary (Rikers Public Memory Project), and Alisa del Tufo (Survivor Voices).
Above: Class picture with lead instructor Suzanne Snider (OHSS) and fellow OHSS Summer School Students.
June 26, 2021
In late June, I presented my work as part of the ongoing panel series and project, I Want to be Well. This project is thoughtfully organized by curator Chiarina Chen. Chen led us in a conversation about how making, viewing, and interacting with art can be a healing process.
Above: Participating panelists (L-R) Naomi Campbell, Qin Han, Sarah Howe, and Chiarina Chen.
June Flashback, 2014
I was recently reminded of a walk and conversation I led through Green-Wood Cemetery in 2014. On the walk we discussed observations and questions, memorials as narratives and our desire as a culture to create individual or collective memory in a public context.
After more than a year of continued loss and upheaval, this topic is more than present. Part of my current research involves implementing my growing knowledge of Oral History practices as ground work for a project about public memory, loss and celebration in Washington D.C.
Above: Participants of a Site and Memory Tour I organized in 2014 on the grounds of Green-Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn with Open Source Gallery.
