Artists & Projects Directory
Ralph Lemon/Cross Performance
Ralph Lemon: 1856
Cessna Road is a mixed media solo exhibition at
The Studio Museum in Harlem that runs
from March 29 - May 27, 2012. The exhibition explores memory,
memorialization and cultural translation in large-scale color
photographs, a video installation and a series of 30 drawings made into
video animation. The exhibition is the culmination of Lemon's eight-year
friendship and rich artistic collaboration with Walter Carter (1907-2010) in Little
Yazoo, Mississippi.
Lemon met Carter during a 2002 research trip to the Mississippi Delta and
developed a friendship that quickly evolved into a collaboration in Carter's
house, in his backyard, along a country road or in a nearby juke joint. Together
they developed "scores" for Carter to perform that varied from
task-oriented instructions to reenactments of scenes from science-fiction
films. If asked, Carter described it as strange "work" that he
enjoyed. Over time, Lemon got to know Carter's wife, Edna, and his extended
family and neighbors, some of whom in turn became involved in the
art-making. This shared experience became inspiration and fodder for a number
of Lemon's performances, exhibitions and writings over the years.
1856 Cessna Road is Lemon's debut exhibition at The Studio Museum in Harlem and the first time
this suite of works will be shown in New
York City.