A Playground Study
July 28-August 26th, 2017
Artist, curator, and deejay Sadie Woods grew up Afro-Latina in 90’s Chicago during the onset of hip-hop, electro, and the proliferation of musical styles that matched the multiple subcultural and countercultural identity movements in America. Such music has been a vehicle for Woods’ re-examination of the affects, aspirations, and struggles of cultural experiences. Through her practice, deejaying becomes a culminating point between taste-making and space-making—connecting songs to cultural and personal currents and memory. While deejaying is democratic and collaborative, it also has tremendous opportunities to engage socio-political spheres through sound and performance. Woods’ practice “zeros-in” on historical and contemporary anthems and mantras through audio samples and visual language.
A Playground Study explores children’s playground culture and handclap games through a series of video, photography, and sound installation works. These folk and social music traditions are framed within the backdrop of several public schools of the south and west sides of Chicago. As an oral tradition that has survived world wars, displacement and migrations, the work queries the right to play, spaces of autonomy, and shared histories through song and play.
You are cordially invited to the opening reception on Friday, July 28 at CAVE Detroit, 1604 Clay Street, from 6-9pm. Exhibition runs through Saturday, September 9.
