Artist(s): AuniteKym, Makeba Rainey, Ali Rufrano-Ruffner
Multi-Part Installation and Performance
Location: Philadelphia, PA
Hosted at: Vox Populi
This multi-part installation and performance was hosted at Vox Populi in Philadelphia, PA. This exhibition transformed a gallery space into a North Philadelphia Stoop, as well as hosted multiple performances by Auntie Kym to share in this practice of congregation in fellowship with others through story-telling , oral history, poetry and audience participation.
The memories/stories of our elders are an ancestral archive, a gold mine of tradition and wisdom...a guide on how to exist, how to survive, and (sometimes) how to thrive. No matter the nature of the story or the story-teller, there is always a lesson to be learned, a gold nugget to take away...a gift to be had. Orator and poet Auntie Kym came to this space to share more wisdom and uplift the stories of her loved ones; beloved community members lost but not forgotten...this time considering the tradition of #StoopSittin. Auntie Kym shows us over and over again how she is a most excellent host/healer/caregiver/confident/community builder...instantaneously welcoming and refreshingly upfront with a talent for enlivening any space.
Stoop Sittin’ was/is a way for the community to disseminate information, be it national news, gossip, community protection, or to just socialize and laugh with neighbors. It’s ancestral in practice. It is socially and culturally impactive. The stoop is an educational institution for many in the city, especially in Philly. The practice of stoop sittin’ enables the community to share in each other’s joys, triumphs, and pain. It is a multi-generational place of communal learning and healing.
For this piece, I assisted with building the set as well as all of the graffiti artwork.