The Kitchen Presents Camae Aweya and Moor Mother

The Kitchen presents an exhibition and series of performances from time-transcending Afrofuturist musical experimenter and multidisciplinary artist Camae Ayewa, aka Moor Mother. Using soundscape installation, film, collage, and poetry, Ayewa showcases the creative process of her upcoming second Moor Mother album, Analog Fluids of Sonic Black Holes, and its instrumental accompaniment, Sublime Methods of Spiritual Machines, which investigate the idea that every shadow has a history. Her work speaks about ancestral temporality and the embodiment of what remains and lingers: what takes shape and holds in the shadows of the physical world.

In 2017, the Philadelphia-based artist and activist became the first recipient of The Kitchen's $20,000 Emerging Artist Award, inaugurated by Laurie Anderson and supported by Philippe Starck who funded the development of this project. Ayewa said at the time, "With this award, I will be able to record more of what has been stored up inside me for so long."

Moor Mother's name denotes the desire to, as described in The Guardian, reclaim "a pre-modern black identity," but her musical project likewise plunges through racialized time into the present, and a black-utopic future. Referring to a "DIY Time Travel" workshop she gives, she told the publication, "That's the first part of the solution: how do we learn from our past, to envision the future we want?"

Moor Mother's debut studio album, 2016's Fetish Bones (also the name of Ayewa's 2016 book of poetry), was a blistering and confronting sonic depiction of American racial history, described by Ayewa herself as "a collection of sounds that are events themselves, telling stories rich in history about the journey that brings us to today and the future we are creating." It was released to acclaim, and named one of the top experimental albums of the year by Rolling Stone, Pitchfork, and The Wire. The Quietus raved, "Arid and dry texturally, and immensely mercurial in its sonic make-up, Fetish Bones has a searing ability to hit you sideways, from nowhere...The grand jumble of sounds and textures that Moor Mother has conjured up gnaw at you long after the record is finished, prompting you to find new ways of dislodging intellectual debris in your head." Pitchfork called it "a piece that could be endlessly analyzed: The mixture of words and sounds evoke the visceral intimacy of shared trauma, and it turns a history of abstract suffering into a close-proximity experience."

The exhibit and performances were organized at The Kitchen by Tim Griffin and Lumi Tan. The exhibition will be on display at The Kitchen (512 West 19th Street) February 21-March 17, with an opening on February 21 from 6-8pm. Performances take place March 6 and 7 at 8pm at The Kitchen. Tickets are $25 for general admissions and $20 for members, and are currently on sale. With any questions, please contact the box office at boxoffice@thekitchen.org or by phone at 212.255.5793 x11.

Funding Credits

The Kitchen Emerging Artist Award 2017 is sponsored by international renowned French creator Philippe Starck.

Annual program support provided by Lambent Foundation Fund of Tides Foundation, The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, and Howard Gilman Foundation; and in part by public funds from New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.

About Camae Ayewa (Moor Mother)

Camae Ayewa (Moor Mother) is a national and international touring musician and has performed at numerous festivals, colleges and universities sharing the stage with King Britt, Islam Chipsy, Claudia Rankine, and Bell Hooks and opening on tour for Screaming Females. A soundscape artist with work featured at Samek Art Museum, Metropolitan Museum of Art Chicago, ICA Philadelphia and Everson Museum of Art, Camae is also a vocalist in punk band The Mighty Paradocs and free jazz group Irreversible Entanglements. Camae is co-founder and organizer of Rockers! Philly, a 10-year long running event series and festival focused on marginalized musicians and artists spanning multiple genres of music.

As Moor Mother, she released her debut album Fetish Bones on Don Giovanni records that was named 3rd best album of the year by The Wire Magazine, number 1 by Jazz Right Now and appeared on numerous end of the year list from Pitchfork, Noisy, Rolling Stone, and Spin Magazine. Moor Mother was named by Rolling Stone as one of the 10 artists to watch in 2016 and named Bandcamp's 2016 artist of the year. Camae also released her first book of poetry called Fetish Bones in Winter 2016 on The AfroFuturist Affair small press. As a member of Black Quantum Futurism Collective (BQF), she has been a part of two literary works and several zines, and has been featured in exhibitions at the Schomburg Center, Rebuild Foundation Temple Contemporary at Tyler School of Art, and more. Camae Ayewa is a 2016 Leeway Transformation Award and Blade of Grass 2016 Fellow, has been an in artist in residency at West Philadelphia Neighborhood Time Exchange and WORM! Rotterdam residency, and will be featured with Black Quantum Futurism at Transmediale Festival in Berlin 2017. Moor Mother has appeared in the Quietus, the Fader, Vice and others. Moor Mother's upcoming schedule includes Berhaign, Safe as Milk Festival, CTM Festival, MoogFest, and Donau Festival.

About The Kitchen

The Kitchen is one of New York City's most forward-looking nonprofit spaces, showing innovative work by emerging and established artists across disciplines. Our programs range from dance, music, performance, and theater to video, film, and art, in addition to literary events, artists' talks, and lecture series. Since its inception in 1971, The Kitchen has been a powerful force in shaping the cultural landscape of this country, and has helped launch the careers of many artists who have gone on to worldwide prominence.

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