EVA YAA ASANTEWAA GRANT 2020 FINALIST

ANNA MARTINE WHITEHEAD

Anna Martine Whitehead does performance. She's been presented by the Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art; San José Museum of Art; Velocity Dance Center; and Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. She's worked with Onye Ozuzu, Jefferson Pinder, taisha paggett, Every house has a door, Keith Hennessy, and the Prison + Neighborhood Art Project, among others. She's been recognized by the Graham Foundation, Portland Institute of Contemporary Art, 3Arts, Chicago Dancemakers Forum, Foundation for Contemporary Arts, Headlands Center for the Arts, and the Rauschenberg Foundation. Martine has written for Art21, C Magazine, frieze, Art Practical; and has contributed chapters to publications including Queer Dance: Meanings and Makings (Oxford, 2017). Martine is the author of TREASURE | My Black Rupture (Thread Makes Blanket, 2016).

Learn more about Anna Martine Whitehead at her Instagram or website.

force! an opera in three acts

FORCE! an opera in three acts is the story of a group of women and femmes of color waiting to get into a prison and escape a memory-erasing mold. The opera follows archetypal characters found in the liminal space between the visitation room and the parking lot of any prison or jail. This project explores what kind of relationships bloom in the shadow of the prison, imagining a strange sisterhood with the power to disintegrate walls.