Celebration of Disability Pride with JJJJJerome Ellis and SPACE
Sat, July 27, 2024
4–6:30 pm
Top Image: SPACE members Spring Kwok, Carmelo Rios and Olivia Simmons. Photo by Jonathas Nazareth. Bottom Image: Photo of JJJJJerome Ellis by Marc J. Franklin
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Join nowThe Susan and John Hess Family Theater is equipped with an induction loop and infrared assistive listening system. Accessible seating is available.
ASL interpretation will be provided.
This program will be recorded and made available on the Whitney's YouTube channel.
Live captioning will be available online and in-person for this event. If you need captions in a separate browser window or on your own mobile device, please email accessfeedback@whitney.org for StreamText link.
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Floor 3, Theater
Join us for an afternoon of performances in celebration of Disability Pride Month with 2024 Biennial artist JJJJJerome Ellis and SPACE, an organization that serves people who stutter through arts, education, and advocacy.
SPACE to stutter... SPACE to create
4 – 5:30pm
A showcase of performances by artists who stutter, including poetry, dance, film, and other creative explorations of dysfluent voices. The event also features an interactive installation of visual art by people who stutter in the Artspace starting at 11am.
Aster of Ceremonies
5:30 – 6:30pm
JJJJJerome Ellis presents an iteration of their transdisciplinary project, Aster of Ceremonies. Using piano, saxophone, electronics, and voice, this lecture-performance is an ongoing attempt to, in the words of critic Hortense Spillers, “hear [slavery’s] stutter more clearly.”
SPACE is a nonprofit organization creating a more inclusive and accessible world for people who stutter. They are the only organization founded on the belief that when we learn to listen better to people who stutter, we are learning to listen better to everyone. SPACE harnesses the power of the arts to directly support people who stutter and reshape society’s understanding of stuttering.
Stuttering is a neurological speech disability affecting approximately 5% of all children, and 1% of the total population: 79 million people worldwide. There is no cure for stuttering and people who stutter often feel significant pressure to hide the way they speak due to societal pressure and stigma.
JJJJJerome Ellis (any pronoun) is a disabled Grenadian-Jamaican-American animal, artist, and person who stutters. Through music, performance, writing, video, and photography, the artist asks what stuttering can teach us about justice. Born in 1989 in Groton, Connecticut, USA the artist lives in Norfolk, Virginia, USA with their wife, poet-ecologist Luísa Black Ellis. JJJJJerome dreams of building a sonic bath house!
Accessibility
ASL interpretation and CART captioning will be provided in-person and online. Masking is strongly recommended for in-person participation. To create a scent-free environment for those with sensitivities, please refrain from wearing products containing fragrances.
