Reconstruction Study #4 premiered in the spring 2017 at the DIRT Festival at Dance Mission and showed again at the Black Choreographer’s Festival in March 2018.
RS #4 Sowing Weeds from Chris Evans on Vimeo.
In Reconstruction Study #4: Sowing Weeds Byb Chanel Bibene and Chris Evans explore invisibilized forms of resistance (human and environmental) to the capitalist impulses that fueled colonialism in Byb’s Republic of Congo and the “free market” capitalist explosion that the Reconstruction period launched in the US.
Using weeds common to North America and Africa as a symbol, metaphor and example of literal resistance, we hope to uncover our deep connection to place both internally and externally. Sowing weeds, not human agriculture, is how mother earth/nature sows herself. The weeds sown by the wind that find there way to light through the cracks in the sidewalk. We weed so that they do not overrun, crowd out the seeds we plant with intention, reduce our crop yields. But, what do the weeds, the seeds sown by the wind have to tell us about ancient languages that sprang from and are connected to place, what hidden stories do they have to tell, what can we learn from their strength. Weeds defy capitalism — they are free, they can feed us, they resist, their roots are deep.
Reconstruction Study Project 