Sankofa, a new performance by Anna Parisi
July 15, 3pm and 5pm
Lower Gallery at The Arts Center at Governors Island
Sankofa, an African word from the Akan tribe in Ghana, conveys the ancient wisdom in learning and retrieving from the past to ensure a brighter, healthier and wiser future. Sankofa, a new performance by Anna Parisi, portrays a young Black woman, who is contending with the voices in her head and her self-worth in a world where the standards of beauty and value do not match her identity. Parisi is joined by Shareef Kinslow who plays Damon a menacing specter and trickster and Zamo Mlengana who plays Nina, a kind, quiet 10-year-old Black girl who returns from her first pool party feeling heartbroken and deceived.
The performance takes place in a liminal space. A waiting room. A void within the mind, where she is remembering a traumatic event from her childhood and processing her experience and thoughts towards healing. Navigating her inner liminal space, the young woman engages in a necessary rebellion against inherited ideals, weaving past and future, and laying down the threads for the rebirth of her present wholeness.
Sankofa is inspired by and stems from interviews Parisi conducted with people of color from Brazil, USA, Trinidad Tobago and Hawaii on their relationship with their hair.
Directed by: Maggie Scrantom
Costume design by: Raquel Wynmann
Documentation by: Natalia Almonte
Special thanks to: Flávia Vieira, Rebecca Barreto, Luiza Côrrea, Dalaeja Foreman, Keith O. Anderson, Tracy Denise Davis Bell, Ayana Powell, Cris Mariz, Debbie Aboaba, Nayib Felix, Sekiya Dorsett, Shantel Gamble, Clarissa Vickerie, Jawaun Tyler Hill, and Materials for The Arts.
Anna Parisi is an Afro-Brazilian interdisciplinary artist, writer, and educator working with collage, sculpture, performance, and video. Through Parisi’s practice she invokes and evokes cathartic experiences and conversations around politics, creating space for self-reflection, vulnerability, and healing. Opposing the violences that have systematically oppressed BIPOC heritage, livelihood, and futures inspires Parisi’s artistic practice.