Artists & Projects Directory
Ralph Lemon/Cross Performance
In 2005, Ralph Lemon completed
The Geography Trilogy, a ten-year project that was a profound
self-examination and a sustained inquiry into the social gravities of art, race
and identity at the turn of the 21st century. The Trilogy developed a global
performance and visual language that was simultaneously modern and traditional,
East and West, light and dark, formal and free form. The three evening-length
performances that made up The Geography Trilogy featured performers and
collaborators from the U.S., Côte d'Ivoire, Guinea, India, Japan, China and
Taiwan.
The complete DVD archive of The Geography Trilogy was released in July 2007 in a beautifully designed package,
with an essay by dramaturg Katherine Profeta and recordings of Geography (1997), Tree (2000) and Come
home Charley Patton (2004).
Audiences for the live Geography Trilogy had
to wait two to four years between performances-the time it took for Lemon's research
trips and intensive rehearsals as he worked with collaborators to grapple with
the impossible tasks he had assigned himself. Viewers of the DVD archive are
luckier than live audiences in one respect: they can view all three parts in
close succession.
For more information or to purchase a DVD set, please contact Julia at julia@mappinternational.org or
646-602-9390.