Louder Than Silence

Join us for an evening of spoken word poetry and performance responding to featured spring exhibition Rodney McMillian: A Son of the Soil. Emceed by Columbia’s poet laureate, Jennifer Bartell Boykin, this live program brings together poets and performance artists whose work engages directly with the exhibition’s explorations of labor, power, and value, and the ways race, class, and gender shape access to the so-called American Dream. Selected artists present original works that reflect on lived experience, invisible labor, economic survival, and the tension between aspiration and reality. Language becomes both medium and method, used as a tool for resistance, disruption, and truth-telling in response to McMillian’s practice. 

Free as part of Free First Thursday at the CMA. Attendees are encouraged to visit the exhibition prior to the program. This program is supported by Art Bridges Access for All Program and Lexington Health.

Performances by:

Tamell Bailey
Keyontaye Allison
Genevieve Hunter
Vickey Finkley-Brown
Summer Joy Cora
Nneoma Ohale
Michal Sextion
Max Parthas
Abby Duran
Akilah Alwan

Can we assist you with accommodations for accessibility during your visit? Please let us know at 803-799-2810 or [email protected].