Multi-Purpose Room, Ann Arbor District Library
Workshop: Speculative Histories
U.S. history is full of glorious gaps and unknowns. The Speculative Histories workshop will focus on using the powerful tool of imagination to see or to “speculate” truths residing in historical gaps for African Americans in order to envision a greater picture of the collective American past.
Speculative Histories will guide participants through imaginative exercises intended to ignite creative ways to read what is there and build what is not there, thus weaving a more complex and complete historical view of African-American and collective American life.
Jillian Walker is an award-winning artist and cultural leader with a passion for creating seismic cultural shifts. Named “one of New York City’s most exciting playwrights” by the Bushwick Starr in 2016, her latest work, SKiNFoLK: An American Show, appeared in the 2017 ANT Fest (aka All New Talent Festival) at Ars Nova. Jillian is the recipient of the 2017-18 UMS Education and Community Engagement Research Residency to develop her new play, Tignon.
Artist Website
http://www.thisisjillianwalker.com
UMS LOBBY
Interview: Jillian Walker, UMS Research Residency Artist
We chat with the artist Jillian Walker, UMS Research Residency Artist, about her writing process, decolonizing history, and returning to Ann Arbor.