About When We Gather
A multifaceted art project that celebrates the women who have played an elemental role in the progress of the United States and offers a call to create a path forward for the leaders of the future.
Visionary artist María Magdalena Campos-Pon conceived When We Gather in collaboration with Okwui Okpokwasili and LaTasha N. Nevada Diggs in late 2020, inspired by the election of the first female vice president in the United States.
On the campaign trail, Kamala Harris evoked the memory of her mother, Shyamala Gopalan Harris, who “believed so deeply in an America where a moment like this is possible.” Harris celebrated “the generations of women: Black women, Asian, White, Latina, and Native American women throughout our nation’s history who have paved the way for this moment.” She called on us all, mothers, grandmothers, sisters, aunts, and girls; cis and trans, to celebrate with her.
When We Gather is our collective answer, inviting women across the country to usher in an era of healing, unity, and creativity.
The Films
Produced during the pandemic, the first iteration of When We Gather came to life as a short art film and an accompanying behind-the-scenes documentary. In addition to Okpokwasili and Diggs, Campos-Pons selected four other female artists, Dell Marie Hamilton, Jana Harper, Lisa E. Harris, and Samita Sinha to perform in the film. The number of the performers –seven – is a nod to the seven directions (north, south, east, west, above, below, center) in the Cherokee tradition, as well as a representation of the primordial mother in Yoruba religion.
The choreography of the piece is informed by gestures from diverse traditions evoking storms, spirals, and ancestral energy. The soundscape incorporates both lyrics and a poem written by Diggs for the project.
While moving counterclockwise in a circle, the artists tie seven knots with a piece of blue fabric, manifesting a connection between them. The circle serves as a symbol of healing, unity, and potential. It shows us how we can remain connected even while we are separated due to the pandemic or the state of the nation. All of these factors inform the collaborative choreography, text, and song cycle of this global, shared experience.
The When We Gather film was produced, executed, and filmed during the pandemic in separate studios and outdoor spaces across the country as both performance and ritual, and then artfully woven together into a single short film by the film director, Codie Elaine Oliver.
The accompanying behind-the-scenes documentary, When We Gather: Together contextualizes the themes of the film and features creative conversations, diverse artistic performances, interviews with the director and performers, and an array of arts and education professionals. This special program is co-produced and hosted by Dr. Nikki A. Greene, a tenured professor of art history at Wellesley College and author of an upcoming book that prominently features Campos-Pons.
Since When We Gather was launched in January 2021, we have collaborated with museums (deYoung, Norton, 21c) and educational institutions (Brown, Georgetown, Institute for Studies on Latin American Art) to host screenings both virtually and in-person in over 15 cities around the country, participated in film festivals such as African Film Festival New York, OKCine Film Festival, and Los Angeles Women's International Film Festival, and had images from the film selected for the Photo Oxford festival in the UK.
Thanks to the generous support of the Arts, Equity, & Education Fund, we have also created a suite of educational materials to facilitate conversations about When We Gather in 6th - 10th grades classrooms.
Image Courtesy of the artist, María Magdalena Campos-Pons and Gallery Wendi Norris, San Francisco.
The National Gallery of Art Performance
On April 30th, 2022, When We Gather will be performed live at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. The performance is part of the programming around the museum’s landmark exhibition, Afro-Atlantic Histories, where Campos-Pons’ work will be presented. Not only is this the first time When We Gather will be performed live, as Campos-Pons had initially envisioned, it is also the first time the NGA has commissioned a performance art piece.
Campos-Pons will be joined by Hamilton and Harper, two of the original artists involved in the When We Gather film, as well as four new artists, Sue-Ann Letta Forde, Stephanie Mercedes, Helina Metaferia, and Jessica Sandhu to perform this live rendition of the piece at the National Gallery of Art.