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Chicana Collaborative, something soft, and My Love Affair with Marriage
The BSR Weekly Arts and Culture Roundup, March 21-27, 2024
Kyle V. Hiller
This week, we’ve got some unique events to engage with in and around the city. At the PMA, explore how a massive quilt makes commentary on one of the biggest issues facing the US through Jesse Krimes: Rikers Quilt. Then, catch a screening of an honest story about love through My Love Affair with Marriage. Performances from Painted Bride and the Metropolitan Ballet offer a chance to find some grounding, and an event in Wilmington celebrates Chicana heritage and culture.
Chicana Collaborative
Friday, March 22, 6pm
Sapitos, 3605 Miller Road, Wilmington
The Choir School of Delaware, the University of Delaware’s College of Arts and Sciences, and the Chicana Art Song Project team up to present Chicana Collaborative, a free community event celebrating Chicana heritage through poetry, song, dance, and art. The Chicana Art Song Project is a multidisciplinary endeavor aimed at giving voice to Chicana artists in literature, music, and the visual arts.
Jesse Krimes: Rikers Quilt
March 23-July 15, 2024
Philadelphia Museum of Art, 2600 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia
Philly-based artist and social justice activist Jesse Krimes uses his art to generate dialogue around the US penal system and help humanize those impacted by it. This new exhibit, Rikers Quilt, initially was a response to the ongoing abuses at Rikers Island—New York City’s largest and most notorious jail—and draws from his own experiences of incarceration and re-entry into society. The quilt itself is composed of individual prison bedsheet squares, and beneath the surface lies a concealed layer containing 3,650 images of abuse inflicted by police and corrections officers at Rikers.
something soft
March 23-April 28, 2024
Painted Bride, 5212 Market Street, Philadelphia
Painted Bride presents something soft, a series of public sound and movement workshops and performances on softening by and for Black, neurodivergent, queer, trans, and non-binary folk. The residency is performed by Ma’at Works Dance Collective and features four workshops and three distinct performances. All workshops and performances will be masked, and all workshops are pay-what-you-can with a suggested $20 donation.
Variations/Collaborations
Saturday, March 23, 7pm
Kurtz Center at William Penn Charter School, 3000 West School House Lane, Philadelphia
Metropolitan Ballet brings Tommie-Waheed Evans, Sarah Mettin, and Ashley Walton Pabst to the stage for a showcase of contemporary choreography. Pabst’s performance will feature a large ensemble of 18 dancers with solos and pas de deux; Evans, Philly’s own recent Guggenheim Fellow and Princess Grace awardee, brings a new work with high-energy dance; and Mettin’s new work casts 10 in a “visceral soundscape.”
My Love Affair with Marriage
Sunday, March 24, 6pm
Latvian Society, 531 North 7th Street, Philadelphia
Award-winning animated filmmaker Signe Baumane pays a visit to Philadelphia for the screening of the animated feature film My Love Affair with Marriage. The film tells the story of Zelma, a spirited young woman on a 23-year quest for love set against a backdrop of historic events in Eastern Europe. This animated film for adults tackles the issues of love, gender norms, domestic violence, fantasies, and toxic relationships to propel a woman's journey toward independence and liberation. Baumane will be in attendance for a Q&A after the screening.
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