Artists & Projects Directory
Ralph Lemon/Cross Performance
(the efflorescence of) Walter is a continually developing mixed-media exhibition created by Ralph Lemon and composed of drawings, text, sculptural elements, projected videos and animations. The installations form an unpredictable and eerily poetic narrative that references sources as diverse as the writer James Baldwin, conceptual artist Bruce Nauman, African-American folktale character Br'er Rabbit, and Lemon's own collection of 45rpm records. The central figure of Walter Carter, a 102-year-old former sharecropper, carpenter and gardener from Bentonia, MS with whom Lemon had an ongoing relationship for eight years, ties these threads together, raising questions about memory, memorialization and transcendence.
Lemon and Carter were introduced in 2002 by Jimmy "Duck" Holmes, owner of the Blue Front Cafe, one of the few remaining juke joints in the Delta. The two continued to meet twice a year to collaborate in Carter's house, in his backyard, along a country road or in a nearby juke joint. They discussed and acted, and documented and filmed their actions. If asked, Carter would likely describe it as strange "work" that he enjoys. Over time, Lemon got to know Carter's wife, Edna, his extended family (nine children and twenty-one grandchildren), and neighbors, who in turn became involved in the art-making.
The first version of (the efflorescence of) Walter, exhibited at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis in March-June 2006, included video from Lemon and Carter's work together as well as set pieces and animations from Lemon's performance work, Come home Charley Patton.
The second version, curated by Anthony Allen and Claire Tancons, was exhibited at The Kitchen in New York City in May-June 2007. That show included video chapters of Walter at work and play, as well as animations, sound, drawings and sculptural/set elements created by Lemon. In addition, Lemon commissioned Carter's son, Warren Carter and a neighbor, Lloyd Williams, to build a spaceship for The Kitchen exhibit from backyard debris. The process of building and moving the spaceship to New York City was a performative aspect of the installation.
The most recent incarnation of (the efflorescence of) Walter, also curated by Anthony Allen and Claire Tancons, was installed at the Contemporary Art Center in New Orleans in January-March 2008, where the work also took on new meaning in relationship to the complex cultural memory and present of post-Katrina New Orleans.