Disappearing Acts @ 50 is a multimedia performance that first premiered in 2018 at The 8th Floor Gallery as part of the celebration of Elia Alba’s The Supper Club exhibit. The performance, inspired by ageism in the art world as experienced by women of color, is both testimony and ode to antidotes, ointments, stretch marks, remedies … Read more
These photographs are an extension of an ongoing photography project, in search of beauty. I have written about the Black female body in photography for over thirty years and thought often about spirituality and transformation. I find it particularly evident in the hands of Black women living in Black communities for an extended period of time. For … Read more
“To Make Visible Everywhere: Our Bold, Beautiful, Aging Bodies” is a collection of personal reflections, performances, research journeys, and conversations by and about women of color aging. This special issue of The Scholar and Feminist Online was guest edited by choreographer, filmmaker, educator, and curator Gabri Christa and media studies scholar Sheril Antonio. Together, these … Read more
Introduction Saraswathi, Our Mother Our mother was in her late sixties when she and a group of friends ranging from their mid-fifties to early seventies traveled together to sing in the second-tier town of Coimbatore in deep South India. As part of the journey, they chose to stop at a coconut farm to have their … Read more
Editor’s Note: The following portraiture essay, “Those Who Remain: Portraits of Guyana’s Amerindian Women,” by Khadija Benn is an edited excerpt from the recent book Liminal Spaces: Migration and Women of the Guyanese Diaspora. The book offers an intimate exploration into the migration narratives of women of Guyanese heritage. Its curator and editor, Grace Aneiza … Read more
Sajda Musawwir Ladner was one of the people who appeared in the film Sheila. Gabri Christa filmed her joyful dancing for Sheila, but most of the material couldn’t be used in the film, so a short film dedicated to the eighty year old Sajda dancing was in order. Read more about Sajda here. Credits Christa, Gabri, … Read more
Sheila is a short experimental documentary about Sheila Rohan, one of the founding members of Dance Theater of Harlem. The film takes place during a moment of contemplation when Sheila Rohan, alone in the dark, dances and remembers her past life through body memory. Memory in this film comes through the hands that touch the … Read more
If we each take a moment to recall the most memorable representations of Black women, specifically aging or aged Black women in mainstream US media, what films, television shows, or series come to mind? Those that I recall are a bittersweet treat, a mix of delight as well as concern. This does not surprise me, … Read more
“But Mom, my ballet teacher can’t be a ballerina. She’s too old!” So says the ten-year-old character in my children’s book in progress, “My Ballet Teacher,” inspired by the life of my aunt, Sheila Rohan. Aunt Sheila was a dancer with the original company of Dance Theatre of Harlem (DTH), an all-Black dance company founded … Read more
A Duration of Care, 2023. Video by Sumedha Bhattacharyya. I/m/age/ing: A Provocation to Contemplate Aging in Dance in the Indian Context Written in 2020, revised in 2023 I was twenty-seven years old when I started writing this essay. A year before, overnight, my mother and I became caregivers to my father. This year, I will … Read more
