Elevate, a performance by Jessica Valoris
Saturday, September 17th, 2022
This performance was created in response to and inspired by April Banks’ public artwork, Elevate (Freedom is a Place).
On September 17th, 2022, The Nicholson Project celebrated our third anniversary with a community celebration and the unveiling of Elevate (Freedom is a Place), our first public artwork that was created by artist April Banks. This artwork serves as a pedestal, a functional piece of public art, as stage or seating, for performance, or for rest. Jessica Valoris was invited to create a performance in response to April's artwork which was performed at the unveiling, where she invited onlookers to pay tribute to their connection to and love for DC. Jessica created a movement meditation and soundscape inspired by a conversation with April and the ways she uses architecture to create a Black spatial aesthetic that centers on community care, interdependence, and joy. The sound is Jessica's voice, coupled with an impromptu sound bath cipher with Kelly GreenLight. This offering was amplified by the musical stylings of Asha Adia Santee on the drums and chimes.
About JESSICA VALORIS
Jessica is a multidisciplinary artist and community facilitator. Through ritual performance, sound collage, and mixed media painting, she creates sacred spaces that honor the earth-based traditions of her Black and Jewish ancestors. Rooted in practices of collective care, ancestral reverence and embodied study, Jessica's work aims to map out pathways for the Black liberatory imagination and revive recipes for collective care.