Artist Eleanor Kipping performs her piece, Strange Fruit.

 

The Center for Maine Contemporary Art (CMCA) invites the public to join artist Eleanor Kipping for a performance in conjunction with her installation, Strange Fruit, on view in the CMCA Biennial. The performance will take place on Sunday, January 27, at 3pm. The event is free to CMCA members, others with admission.

Referencing pop culture iconography and American history, Kipping’s work addresses the Black female experience, taking pause to reflect on sexuality, physicality, and the knowledge of The Other. Kipping encourages community engagement, asking the viewer to examine intra/interracial terrains in their own lives and regions. Strange Fruit serves as both installation and performance space, and explores the relationship between historical and contemporary political race relations in the United States.

During the performance, the artist sits in the white rocking chair at the center of the installation. She mourns, celebrates, and muses while humming, singing, and reciting prose, lyrics, and notes from a small book. The book remains in the space for the audience to experience or recite from after the performance. The installation serves as an altar, a mythological Ancestral plain, or even a shrine.

Kipping received a Bachelor of Science from the New England School of Communication and a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Maine.

The CMCA Biennial is on view through March 3, 2019. Support for the Biennial is provided by First National Bank. For more information, visit cmcanow.org.