Red Summers is a series of 360 immersive episodes with corresponding essays and community testimonials that tell the untold American history of racially motivated domestic terrorism from 1917 to 1921. The series covers seven largely forgotten violent incidents that shaped the next century of American history. It directly connects the social and political issues that led to this violence to the issues American society and the world face today. Originally published with The Guardian and exhibited in France and at Columbia Law School and NYU, these films and the installation examine how these events were not isolated incidents, but are part of a continuum that still continues today.
Using contemporary imagery with overlaid historical images, this series of documentary shorts will examine the lack of legal accountability and how these events relate to the current challenges in the USA regarding social and racial justice. These films allow the audience to stand on a historically significant site related to this history and look back in time without having to travel to the site physically. The goal of this project is to directly connect the past to the present and provide a means for society to learn from the past so we do not repeat the same mistakes and fall victim to unnecessary violence during another highly polarized and volatile point in time.
Artist Bios
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Bayeté Ross Smith
Bayeté Ross Smith is a multidisciplinary artist, visual journalist, and filmmaker. He is a TED Speaker, a Presidential Leadership Scholar, Columbia Law School’s inaugural Artist-In-Residence, and a CatchLight Global Fellow. He is also a Professor at NYU.
He has created public art with the Apollo Theater, Lincoln Center, the PhotoSaintGermain and Paris Photo Festivals, Dysturb, The NYC Parks Department, the Montgomery Museum of Fine Art, and the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs. His recent public sculpture series made of sugarcane and cotton boomboxes exhibited in New York, Paris, and Benin simultaneously. His journalistic work has been published in The New York Times, The Guardian, and PBS.
He has exhibited his work and presented keynotes internationally in France, China, Belgium, Ukraine, Benin, South Africa, Colombia, and Ethiopia. He has published visual journalism projects with The NY Times, The Guardian, and PBS. His work is in the collections of the Smithsonian Institution, the Oakland Museum of California, the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, the Birmingham Museum of Fine Art, and the Brooklyn Museum.
Organizations
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Photoville
Founded in 2011 in Brooklyn, NY, Photoville was built on the principles of addressing cultural equity and inclusion, which we are always striving for, by ensuring that the artists we exhibit are diverse in gender, class, and race.
In pursuit of its mission, Photoville produces an annual, city-wide open air photography festival in New York City, a wide range of free educational community initiatives, and a nationwide program of public art exhibitions.
By activating public spaces, amplifying visual storytellers, and creating unique and highly innovative exhibition and programming environments, we join the cause of nurturing a new lens of representation.
Through creative partnerships with festivals, city agencies, and other nonprofit organizations, Photoville offers visual storytellers, educators, and students financial support, mentorship, and promotional & production resources, on a range of exhibition opportunities.
For more information about Photoville visit, www.photoville.com
Red Summers VR
Featuring: Bayeté Ross Smith
Locations
View Location Details Download a detailed map of this location Brooklyn Bridge Park – Emily Warren Roebling Plaza1 Water St
Brooklyn, NY 11201
This location is part of Brooklyn Bridge Park
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The views and opinions expressed in this exhibit are those of the exhibition artists and partners and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of Photoville or any other participants and partners of the Photoville Festival.
