The Last Hoisan Poets returned to the de Young Museum with “AMERICAN PEOPLE,” a poetic call & response, celebrating the life and art of the incomparable Faith Ringgold. Inspired by Ringgold’s iconic body of work, the poets spoke to their own lived experiences as women, artists, and contemporaries of Ringgold.
The program included performances by special guests Destiny Muhammad (singer/songwriter/harpist), Tshaka Campbell (Poet Laureate of Santa Clara County), and Tongo Eisen-Martin (Poet Laureate of San Francisco).
In her essay, The Bandung Spirit, poet Genny Lim writes,
“As artists and poets, our role as cultural workers is to give voice to the voiceless, and to shed light on violence, racism and social injustice is a moral responsibility as much as a right.
Faith Ringold’s work incorporates a wide range of multicultural influences, which includes her adaptation of framing paintings in the tradition of Tibetan cloth tangkas and her incorporation of Japanese kanji style calligraphy in many of her works. Her intuitive assimilation of African, Asian and European art forms cohered in a unique expression that was all her own.”
The poets also held a poetry writing workshop celebrating Faith Ringgold in the Kimball Education Gallery from 3pm – 4:30pm. Writers of all ages and skill levels were invited to explore a variety of poetic forms – haiku, American Sentences, acrostic, abecedarian and collaborative poems – in response to the art of Faith Ringgold.
The gallery displayed Faith’s Ringgold’s many children’s books, and participants were invited to make their own mini-book Hoisan-wa primer, inspired by 49 words and phrases listed in Ringgold’s children’s book, Cassie’s Word Quilt, with Hoisan-wa translations created by the poets and a team of Hoisan-wa speaking contributors.
Thlim Sim Ling Gim, is the Hoisan-wa name given to Faith by the poets, means “Believe in heart, make gold.” Participants were invited to use the Story Quilt Soundbooth to express their appreciation for Faith Ringgold – an American Treasure!
In the gallery, people were also invited to learn more about the Anyone Can Fly Foundation, founded by artist Faith Ringgold in 1999, whose mission is to expand the art establishment’s canon to include artists of the African Diaspora and to introduce the Great Masters of African American Art and their art traditions to children and adult audiences.
A special print of The Last Hoisan Poets created for the event, a linocut illustration by Andi Wong printed by Alisa Nascimento at the San Francisco Center for the Book, was gifted to workshop participants in thanks for joining The Last Hoisan Poets in celebrating Faith Ringgold.
2 responses to ““American People” The Last Hoisan Poets & Friends Celebrate Faith Ringgold”
[…] performances included “American Born / Resident Alien”, a tribute to Hung Liu (7/2/22); “American People”, a celebration of the life and art of Faith Ringgold (11/19/22) and a community commemoration of […]
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