Performance on the Porch: Scott Barton: Juba – Sanctuary

August 14, 2019 - 6:00pm

August 14, 2019

Free to members or with admission to the sculpture garden. We ask that you reserve your place in advance by calling 414-446-8794 or emailing info@lyndensculpturegarden.org.

Lynden continues its series of intimate outdoor performances on the porch of Eliza’s Peculiar Cabinet of Curiosities--an installation on the grounds of the sculpture garden by artist Folayemi Wilson--with Juba – Sanctuary, a performance ritual created by food scholar and chef Sott Barton. It takes place just days before the four hundredth anniversary of the arrival of “20 odd Negros” in the Jamestown, Virginia colony as enslaved. This is a Call & Response event.

According to Barton, juba is “a performativity and a dialectic.” He notes that in 1688, Randle Holme used “juba” in this sense: “Rice…beareth a seed in a sparsed juba, or tuft.” He also refers to juba’s kinesthetic life, as “an ecstatic syncopated West African jig marked by hand, knee and thigh slapping with stomping of feet on the floor.” From Juba or “to juber” comes jubilee: a release. A season of rejoicing and celebration. Barton situates his work in the community of those—from Sierra Leone, to Charleston, to Milwaukee—"who celebrate rice culture, Africana indigenous knowledge, and skill at the hearth.”

With Juba—Sanctuary, Scott Barton, joined by the Jazzy Jewels, contemplates “the freedom mythos writ into the construction of this nation; yet not for all. Women, as caregivers, mothers, cooks, and maids are often not at liberty, although ostensibly free.” Through song, speech, and movement, Barton and the Jewels render quotidian women’s work visible. They also offer safe haven and a moment to juba--to jubilee.

Please come prepared with bug spray, sunscreen, and in plenty of time to make your way out to Eliza’s Cabinet. Light refreshments will be served.


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