Dreams, Diaspora, and Destiny

DJ King Britt and artist Joshua Mays led a one-night-only performance on October 14 in West Philadelphia’s Malcolm X Park.

artists Joshua Mays King Britt

King Britt (right) at Dreams, Diaspora, and Destiny. Photo by Steve Weinik.

  • location Malcolm X Park
  • Neighborhood

    West Philadelphia

  • completion date

    October 14, 2017

About the Project 

DJ King Britt and artist Joshua Mays led a one-night-only performance on October 14 in West Philadelphia’s Malcolm X Park that imagined a youth monument to the future. In the summer of 2017, they worked in collaboration with students from Mural Arts Philadelphia’s Art Education program to draw on historical archives, collect sound samples, and interpret Afro-diasporic images of transcendence. The result was a “monumental time portal,” according to the artists, that both honored ancestral legacies and envisioned utopian futures through sound, poetry, projection, and visual art. The vinyl banners created for this performance were on display at the Malcolm X Park Lab during open hours throughout Monument Lab.

Images from Dreams, Diaspora, and Destiny 

  • Dreams, Diaspora, and Destiny. Photo by Steve Weinik.

  • Dreams, Diaspora, and Destiny. Photo by Steve Weinik.

  • Dreams, Diaspora, and Destiny. Photo by Steve Weinik.

  • Dreams, Diaspora, and Destiny. Photo by Steve Weinik.

  • Dreams, Diaspora, and Destiny. Photo by Steve Weinik.

  • Dreams, Diaspora, and Destiny. Photo by Steve Weinik.

  • Dreams, Diaspora, and Destiny. Photo by Steve Weinik.

  • Dreams, Diaspora, and Destiny. Photo by Steve Weinik.

  • Dreams, Diaspora, and Destiny. Photo by Steve Weinik.

  • Dreams, Diaspora, and Destiny. Photo by Steve Weinik.

  • Dreams, Diaspora, and Destiny. Photo by Steve Weinik.

  • One-night-only performance of Dreams, Diaspora, and Destiny, in Malcolm X Park, by King Britt and Joshua Mays. October 14, 2017. Photo by Steve Weinik.

Sponsors 

Major support for Monument Lab projects staged in Philadelphia’s five squares provided by The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage. An expanded artist roster and projects at additional neighborhood sites made possible by the William Penn Foundation. Lead corporate support provided by Bank of America. Generous additional support provided by the National Endowment for the Arts.

For a full list of funders click here.

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