Uploaded January 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
The symposium ‘Kerry James Marshall: Conversations’ was held at the Royal Academy of Arts in London on November 13–14, 2025. Organized in partnership with Getty and Black Curatorial.
Watch more sessions from the symposium:
youtube.com/playlist?list=PLdcw4RhcVX8tC6yqFMlWNQgoouiyjbOeL
Speakers: Prof. Julie Dash, Akinola Davies
Chaired by Makella Ama Ketedzi
Film has long been an influence in Marshall’s practice. In 1989, he worked as a production designer on Julie Dash’s pivotal film, ‘Daughters of the Dust’ (1991), which centres on three generations of Gullah women, descendants of slaves, and their attempts to preserve their African culture and religions. The fee that Marshall earned from working on the film gave him the time and resources to make the ‘Middle Passage’ paintings displayed in the exhibition.
The conversation will delve into the experience of making ‘Daughters of the Dust’, and explore both filmmakers’ approach to depicting African spirituality and the Afro-diasporic experience through film. Films screened include ‘Praise House’ (1991), ‘Daughters of the Dust’ (1991), and ‘HOD’ (2018).
‘Praise House’ (1991)
Commissioned by Alive From Off Center, KTCA.
A collaboration with The Urban Bushwomen, Laurie Carlos, and filmmaker Julie Dash.
“Draw or Die” is the divine imperative received by the painter, Hannah, the heroine of ‘Praise House’, who is being nurtured by her Grandmother, but controlled by her pragmatic mother. When her Granny spirit shouts this command to Hannah, she closes a celebration of personal visions in a dance piece that is close to visionary in itself.
‘Praise House’ was inspired by Minnie Evans, a folk artist who heard the angels command her to “Draw or Die!”
‘Praise House’ combines elements of theater, dance, and music based on the rhythms and rituals of Africa. Julie Dash collaborates with Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, founder, and choreographer of Urban Bush Women, to explore the source of creativity and its effect on three generations of African American women.
‘Daughters of the Dust’ (1991)
Julie Dash’s groundbreaking work follows a multi-generational family in the Gullah community on the Sea Islands off of South Carolina – former West African slaves who adopted many of their ancestors’ Yoruba traditions – as they struggle to maintain their cultural heritage and folklore.
The first wide release by a black female filmmaker, ‘Daughters of the Dust’ was met with wild critical acclaim and rapturous audience response when it initially opened in 1991. Casting a long legacy, ‘Daughters of the Dust’ still resonates today, being a major influence on Beyonce’s video album Lemonade. Restored (in conjunction with UCLA) for the first time, complete with the correct colour grading overseen by cinematographer Arthur Jafa, audiences will finally see the film exactly as Julie Dash intended. Ranked joint 60th in the 2022 Sight and Sound Great Films of All Time poll.
‘HOD’ (2018)
Titled after Akinola Davies’s premiering body of work specifically produced for this show, ‘HOD’ creates a narrative of reclamation through displaced African artifacts in Western Europe and the impact their radiant energies have both on the spaces they have been removed from as well as the spaces they now inhabit. Taking one of many unresolved, destructive legacies of Colonialism as a starting point, the exhibition will reinforce the necessity of creating and adding to global inclusive Black mythology and reflect the intersection of cultural collision by paying homage to our shared histories as an engine to discuss our present and future.
______________________________________________________________________
This program is associated with the Getty Research Institute's African American Art History Initiative, which focuses on the history, practices, and cultural legacies of artists of African American and African diasporic heritage.
https://www.getty.edu/projects/african-american-art-history-initiative/
The Getty Research Institute is dedicated to furthering knowledge and advancing understanding of the visual arts and their various histories through its expertise, active collecting program, public programs, institutional collaborations, exhibitions, publications, digital services, and residential scholars programs. Its library and special collections of rare materials and digital resources serve an international community of scholars and the interested public. The Research Institute's activities and scholarly resources guide and sustain each other and together provide a unique environment for research, critical inquiry, and scholarly exchange.
https://www.getty.edu/research-institute/
The symposium ‘Kerry James Marshall: Conversations’ was held at the Royal Academy of Arts in London on November 13–14, 2025. Organized in partnership with Getty and Black Curatorial.
Watch more sessions from the symposium:
youtube.com/playlist?list=PLdcw4RhcVX8tC6yqFMlWNQgoouiyjbOeL
Speakers: Prof. Julie Dash, Akinola Davies
Chaired by Makella Ama Ketedzi
Film has long been an influence in Marshall’s practice. In 1989, he worked as a production designer on Julie Dash’s pivotal film, ‘Daughters of the Dust’ (1991), which centres on three generations of Gullah women, descendants of slaves, and their attempts to preserve their African culture and religions. The fee that Marshall earned from working on the film gave him the time and resources to make the ‘Middle Passage’ paintings displayed in the exhibition.
The conversation will delve into the experience of making ‘Daughters of the Dust’, and explore both filmmakers’ approach to depicting African spirituality and the Afro-diasporic experience through film. Films screened include ‘Praise House’ (1991), ‘Daughters of the Dust’ (1991), and ‘HOD’ (2018).
‘Praise House’ (1991)
Commissioned by Alive From Off Center, KTCA.
A collaboration with The Urban Bushwomen, Laurie Carlos, and filmmaker Julie Dash.
“Draw or Die” is the divine imperative received by the painter, Hannah, the heroine of ‘Praise House’, who is being nurtured by her Grandmother, but controlled by her pragmatic mother. When her Granny spirit shouts this command to Hannah, she closes a celebration of personal visions in a dance piece that is close to visionary in itself.
‘Praise House’ was inspired by Minnie Evans, a folk artist who heard the angels command her to “Draw or Die!”
‘Praise House’ combines elements of theater, dance, and music based on the rhythms and rituals of Africa. Julie Dash collaborates with Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, founder, and choreographer of Urban Bush Women, to explore the source of creativity and its effect on three generations of African American women.
‘Daughters of the Dust’ (1991)
Julie Dash’s groundbreaking work follows a multi-generational family in the Gullah community on the Sea Islands off of South Carolina – former West African slaves who adopted many of their ancestors’ Yoruba traditions – as they struggle to maintain their cultural heritage and folklore.
The first wide release by a black female filmmaker, ‘Daughters of the Dust’ was met with wild critical acclaim and rapturous audience response when it initially opened in 1991. Casting a long legacy, ‘Daughters of the Dust’ still resonates today, being a major influence on Beyonce’s video album Lemonade. Restored (in conjunction with UCLA) for the first time, complete with the correct colour grading overseen by cinematographer Arthur Jafa, audiences will finally see the film exactly as Julie Dash intended. Ranked joint 60th in the 2022 Sight and Sound Great Films of All Time poll.
‘HOD’ (2018)
Titled after Akinola Davies’s premiering body of work specifically produced for this show, ‘HOD’ creates a narrative of reclamation through displaced African artifacts in Western Europe and the impact their radiant energies have both on the spaces they have been removed from as well as the spaces they now inhabit. Taking one of many unresolved, destructive legacies of Colonialism as a starting point, the exhibition will reinforce the necessity of creating and adding to global inclusive Black mythology and reflect the intersection of cultural collision by paying homage to our shared histories as an engine to discuss our present and future.
______________________________________________________________________
This program is associated with the Getty Research Institute's African American Art History Initiative, which focuses on the history, practices, and cultural legacies of artists of African American and African diasporic heritage.
https://www.getty.edu/projects/african-american-art-history-initiative/
The Getty Research Institute is dedicated to furthering knowledge and advancing understanding of the visual arts and their various histories through its expertise, active collecting program, public programs, institutional collaborations, exhibitions, publications, digital services, and residential scholars programs. Its library and special collections of rare materials and digital resources serve an international community of scholars and the interested public. The Research Institute's activities and scholarly resources guide and sustain each other and together provide a unique environment for research, critical inquiry, and scholarly exchange.
https://www.getty.edu/research-institute/
