FOUR WOMEN AND AN ARTIST | RACHAEL BLACKWELL

In 1966, Nina Simone released a song called “Four Women.” It was both a civil rights protest and a feminist anthem.

Rachael Blackwell was alluding to Ms. Simone’s piece when Four Women and an Artist was named as such. However, instead of portraying the women as the four archetypes described in the song, my goal is to shine a light on how heavy the black community is feeling with daily reports of new police brutality against our black men. Rachael chose to do this by having four women of a certain age surround a young, black man (our visual artist) -as he could easily be anyone of their son, brother, nephew, or any other male family member. This thought is then compounded by the image of a silhouetted artist, a faceless black man, creating his emotional response and his reality to both what’s going on around him on stage as well as what’s going on around him in the world. The four women each have a prepared piece (either song or prose) that span from 1926 until now referencing timely topics such as racial discrimination and inequalities.

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