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Publication: The Breeze, James Madison University, Harrisonburg VA.
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Kwame Dawes and Matthew Shenoda performed their work and the work of others included in “Bearden’s Odyssey,” an anthology that Dawes and Shenoda created in response to artist Romare Bearden’s Odysseus series.The Furious Flower Poetry Center sponsored the performance in Duke Hall this past Thursday. The colorful paintings, illuminated by sunlight beaming through the many windows of the gallery, were set up at the front of the room and friendly faces of students and faculty welcomed members of the audience as they found their seats.
Bearden, a prominent collagist and painter of the 20th century, created a collection of work based on Homer’s “The Odyssey.” Bearden produced this series by combining and comparing the ancient myth of Odysseus with Africans’ experiences of being sent to America through the Middle Passage. Five of Bearden’s paintings were set up in Duke Hall so the audience could see how the poems and paintings conversed with one another.
Dawes, an author of 21 works of literature and a chancellor’s professor of English at University of Nebraska, performed his poetry based on Bearden’s art, and delivered the...