Featuring picks from artist C. Davida Ingram
Earlier this year at the wonderful Genre Bender event, conceptual artist C. Davida Ingram blew audiences away with a spoken word/audio/film project about love and discovering why she could not cry.
“I’m not a sketch-in-the-studio artist,” Ingram, 38, explains. “I tend to have some question on my mind that I want to pursue.” That approach results in some provocative, spiritual, stays-with-you-for-months type of work. Like when she explored the labels, name calling, perceptions and identities of African Americans with “Stereotype,” a show she curated at the LxWxH gallery last year. Or when she tackled the notion of white privilege in 2006 by placing this ad on Craigslist: Black woman willing to make your favorite meal. Strangers signed up; Ingram cooked.
In her latest project, Ingram queried a range of people about their hopes and dreams for themselves and their community. “I feel like everyday people are philosophers,” she says. Her “Eyes to Dream: A Project Room” includes recordings of these voices alongside text-based work from “Stereotype” and photos and pieces from Ingram’s 2014 performance show “I Wish a Mother Would.” (If you go, look at a lacy white dress embroidered with dried fish; it’s about feminism, women of color and mermaids.)
“I want to make art that’s not inconsequential,” says Ingram, a transplant from Chicago who is arguably one of the city’s most appreciated artists. She’s a convener, a connector, a multi-hyphenate with a warmth and intelligence who has generated many friends and fans. Her newest daytime job is doing public engagement work for the Seattle Public Library. I, for one, can’t wait to see what impact she’ll have there.
In the meantime, Ingram shares some of her not-to-miss events for Crosscut's Weekend List.
If you go: “Eyes to Dream: A Project Room,” Northwest African American Museum, now through July 5 ($7) — F.D.
* Denotes events that are $15 or less
Mary Ann Peters *
