River Amplification
Commissioned site-specific mixtape, 2021
By Homer Jackson
Playlist:
• I’ve Known Rivers
• A Change Is Gonna Come
• Water Babies
• Waterfalls
• Cry Me A River
• New World Water
• Ice Water
• Deep River
• Still Water [Love]
• [Sittin’ On] The Dock of the Bay
• Catfish Blues
• Blue Nile
• Underwater
• [You’re A Fish And I’m A] Water Sign
• Drown In My Own Tears
Gary Bartz
Otis Redding
Wayne Shorter
TLC
Dinah Washington
Mos Def
The Jazz Crusaders
Bobby Womack
Four Tops
World Sax Quartet
Taj Mahal & Toumani Diabate
Alice Coltrane
Ghostface Killah
Parliament
Aretha Franklin
Homer Jackson, Director of Philadelphia Jazz Project, is an expansive interdisciplinary artist from Philadelphia with a background in teaching and social service. His work is presented as installation, performance art, public art, video, and audio. He uses images, sounds, text, live performance, video, audience participation, and found objects to tell stories. In 1996, he received special recognition for his work with Youth-at-Risk from the President’s Committee on Arts & Humanities. Jackson has worked with young people, adults, and older adults, as well as intergenerational participants. Through his workshops, participants have produced art exhibitions, albums, books, comic books, and videotapes.
Crossing the Lane Lines
Audio podcast (re-broadcast)
By Naji Ali
Naji Ali is a Black open water swimmer and coach who has made it his mission to create an environment where access to swimming is the norm, not a barrier. Learning to swim at the age of 43 sounds uncommon for most people, but it was better late than never for Ali. “I was determined that I wanted to swim. I didn’t care what it would take. I was going to do it,” Ali said.
Ali’s podcast series, Crossing the Lane Lines, amplifies a diversity of voices into the public space outside the exhibition doors. All are invited to sit down, look out at the Schuylkill River, and listen to Naji and his guests.
Featured Episodes:
“A Strong Current: How Black people ruled the sea for 400 years”
“Separate, but Unequal: Life as a Black Swimmer During Jim Crow
“Muhammad Speaks: Making the Case for Diversity, Inclusion and Equity in the Sport of Swimming”
“Conversation with Rhonda Harper, Founder of Black Girls Surf”
Links to Podcasts:
A Strong Current: How Black people ruled the sea for 400 years
September 11, 2020
Separate, but Unequal: Life as a Black swimmer during Jim Crow
February 12, 2021
Muhammad Speaks: Making the case for diversity, inclusion and equity in the sport of swimming
November 6, 2020
Making Waves: Black surfers and demand for inclusion and diversity in the water
October 9, 2020