JJJJJerome Ellis (photo credit: annie forrest) will present portions of Aster of Ceremonies, their latest transdisciplinary project. Using saxophone, electronics, and voice, they will perform excerpts from “Benediction,” a devotional song cycle attending to 18th- and 19th-century Black runaway slaves who stuttered. This lecture-performance is an ongoing attempt to, in the words of critic Hortense Spillers, “hear [slavery’s] stutter more clearly.”

JJJJJerome Ellis (any pronoun) is a disabled Grenadian-Jamaican-American artist, surfer, and person who stutters. The artist works across music, performance, writing, video, and photography. JJJJJerome has the great privilege of being married to poet-ecologist Luísa Black Ellis. They live in a monastery on a creek in traditional Chesapeake and Nansemond territory. JJJJJerome dreams of building a sonic bath house!

Reading and Performance: JJJJJerome Ellis