Visitors at CAMHLAB at POST Houston, 2024. Photo by Tasha Gorel.

Visitors at CAMHLAB at POST Houston, 2024. Photo by Tasha Gorel.

CAMHLAB

UHURU DANCES: Sites of Liberation

July 1, 2023 - April 28, 2024
CAMHLAB at POST Houston

About

UHURU DANCES: Sites of Liberation is a site-specific community gathering organized by CAMHLAB artists-in-residence Nia’s Daughters. The gathering will feature a movement workshop and a dance/photography project to commemorate the lives and shared histories of Freedmen’s Town.

Inspired by the Swahili word for “freedom,” UHURU DANCES is a celebration of resistance for Black people in Texas. The purpose of this work is to conjure memory and inspire people to learn about their own family histories that include resilience and legacy. The culminating work, consisting of the pinnacle community workshop and a dance/fashion photography project, draws equal inspiration from the histories of Freedmen’s Town residents, Afrofuturism, and architecture of the historic Bethel Church Park.

For their residency, Nia’s Daughters repertory will include The Fairytale Project, which centers the love, life, and legacy of Jim and Winnie Shankle, founders of the freedom colony in Shankleville, Texas; Aesthetic Inheritances, which centers the Barrett Station freedom colony in northeast Harris County; and Liturgy of Remembrance, which centers the National Black United Front’s (NBUF) Annual Caravan to the Ancestors with the story of the Freedom Tree in Missouri City, Texas. The group also plans to offer virtual or hybrid screenings of their work that is inspired by Texas’ freedom colonies.

Support

Phase 1 of Rebirth in Action is generously supported by Mellon Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Extended Media

Resources

Location

CAMHLAB at POST Houston
401 Franklin Street
Houston, Texas 77201

CAMHLAB Hours

Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Sat
Sun

Closed
Closed
11AM–6PM
11AM–6PM
11AM–6PM
11AM–6PM
11AM–6PM

Accessibility

Exhibition labels are available in English and Spanish.