Mixed Messages: Fusing Literary and Oral Traditions, April 8, 2022
Events
Published March 9, 2022
Smith College Special Collections’ 2022 Enid Mark Lecture features Alisa Banks on fusing literary and oral traditions. Watch the Enid Mark lecture on YouTube.
Alisa Banks will discuss her ongoing investigation into alternative modes of reading through the use of culturally charged materials and her exploration of the performative potential of the book. Banks will highlight her latest artists’ book, Inheritance, the essay that inspired it, and other works that use unconventional materials to document interconnected histories.
This event will be held in the Neilson Library Browsing Room and on Zoom on Friday, April 8, 2022 from 3-4:30 p.m. ET.
About Alisa Banks
Alisa Banks investigates connections to contemporary culture, her Creole heritage, and the African diaspora through the lenses of home, terrain, and the body, using Southern Louisiana as a point of entry. Her sculptural artist books, writings, and textile collages, which incorporate fibers and found materials, reference traditional craft forms through twisting, knotting, crocheting, and sewing. Her work has been exhibited in Canada, Europe, Asia, Africa, and throughout the US, and is housed in several private and public collections, including the Smithsonian Institution, the US Library of Congress, and the New York Public Library.
About Enid Mark
The annual Enid Mark Lecture on Poetry & Contemporary Book Arts is in honor of the memory of artist, writer, and fine book publisher Enid Mark, class of 1954. Enid was passionate about words and imagery. From the 1980s until shortly before her death in 2008, she carefully considered all components of her books: text (her own words or those written by others, many of them modern women poets); imagery (her own artwork); type design and layout; binding. She studied English literature and studio art, and her bookwork is featured in Special Collections.