2018-19 Fund recipients Shayna Dunkelman and Rashayla Marie Brown in conversation with Martha Wilson, Founding Director Emerita of Franklin Furnace Archive, Inc. Shayna Dunkelman and Rashayla Marie Brown shared selections from their recent Franklin Furnace funded projects (descriptions below), spoke on their processes and performances, and discuss how the pandemic has affected their work. Dunkelman will also be joined by her producer Irina Dvalidze. 

The Court of Public Opinion

RASHAYLA MARIE BROWN

In her thought-provoking and candid experimental documentary “The Court of Public Opinion,” artist-scholar Rashayla Marie Brown (RMB) explores Black women’s legal identity rights by depicting Black women, including Tamara Lanier who sued Harvard University, challenging entertainment giants and the status quo to gain legal rights and reparations for use of their visual identities. RMB’s film collage further exposes exploitation with footage of her comical and surreal art performances from 2016-2019.

Rashayla Marie Brown’s signature “undisciplinary” studio practice manifests in installation, photography, video art, film, performance, and writing. RMB has presented work at venues internationally including La Becque and La-Tour-de-Peilz in Switzerland; MCA in Chicago; The Museum of the African Diaspora in San Francisco; Tate Modern in London; and Turbine Hall in Johannesburg. Among RMB’s numerous awards are a 2019 Chicago Artadia Award; a University of North Carolina Chapel Hill’s Center for Middle East and Islamic Studies FLAS award for Arabic; the United States Department of State Mandela Washington Fellowship for Reciprocal Exchange, Zimbabwe; and a 2019-20 City of Atlanta Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs film grant. RMB is simultaneously developing two film projects as a part of her pursuit of a Northwestern University PhD in Performance Studies. She can be found on Instagram as rmbstudios.

Answer to (XX)

SHAYNA DUNKELMAN & IRINA DVALIDZE

Shayna Dunkelman will present excerpts from “Answer to (XX),” her September 2020 performance exploring relationships and power dynamics between “band leaders” (henceforth referred to as XXs) and herself. In this 24-hour livestreamed performance produced by Irina Dvalidze, Shayna worked with seven XXs in diverse artistic disciplines: Ava Mendoza, Mindy Abovitz (Tom Tom Magazine), Sokio (New Latin Wave), William Parker, Du Yun, Emily Wells, and Eric Jacobsen, “answering to” their every direction for 24 continuous hours (as long as they followed her preset guidelines). Born to an Indonesian mother and an American father, and raised in Tokyo, Japan, Dunkelman became a multi-instrumentalist performing alongside her mother. In addition to solo performances, she tours with Du Yun, Balún, Emily Wells, Peptalk, Ali Sethi, and her percussion duo with her sister Nava Dunkelman, Nomon. Dunkelman has also performed with pioneers of avant-garde experimental music including John Zorn, Yoko Ono, Thurston Moore, and Xiu Xiu.

Irina Dvalidze is a producer and director specializing in documentary narratives. She’s currently the Supervising Producer of Editorial Video at Bustle Digital Group, and has previously spearheaded original series for Vox media; led East Coast editorial production for Popsugar Studios; and developed original video content for The Huffington Post. Born and raised in the Republic of Georgia, Irina emigrated to the U.S. at age 14 and has spent the last decade exploring narratives that examine the nuances of modern American identities and the forces which shape them.