an elegy for those who have passed through us: Going to Ground, 2024
Performance by LaRissa Rogers in collaboration with Jude Rogers, Zalika Azim, and Denise Joyce
Performed at The Rose Kennedy Greenway// 2hrs // 2024
Photos taken by Alex Joachim
What does the life of a home look like?
Activating Rogers' Going to Ground sculpture, four generations of women, LaRissa Rogers, Jude Rogers (LaRissa's mother), Zalika Azim, and Denise Joyce (Zalika’s Aunt) performed a two hour durational performance titled “an elegy for those who have passed through us”. The performance consisted of a six part score or "recipe for rememory" honoring matriarchal lineages and legacies while conspiring with Zipporah’s Potter Atkins' story, posing questions around arrival and place making. In the performance the sound of the brooms became a heartbeat, guiding the lifeline of the home. Using the oversized hat as a shield and shade device, the four performers walked in procession on the freedom trail to arrive to the sculpture. As if atoms, splitting and multiplying only to return to one another, the performance was arranged into vignettes- with moments of separateness and unity. As the brick foundation was laid, family heirlooms became activated, bouquets foraged and placed onto the structure in sixteen rounds.