MINNEAPOLIS, MN.- The Minneapolis Institute of Art will present “Rituals of Resilience” an audio-visual experience co-curated by Twin Cities–based musician, artist, and community organizer Chaka Mkali (a.k.a. I Self Devine) and Gabriel Ritter, Mia’s curator and head of the Department of Contemporary Art. Opening this Thursday, March 18, the installation will pair 28 works by Black visual artists from the United States, Africa, and the greater African Diaspora with new music created for the exhibition by Mkali and his collaborators. The show will explore themes of identity, culture, spirituality, and power through the embodiment of Black lived experience. Mkali’s album, also named Rituals of Resilience, will be available on all digital platforms the same day the exhibition opens.
This is the first time a musician has collaborated with Mia to produce an album that addresses specific artworks.
“I was drawn to this project with Mia because it offered the possibility of shifting power and presenting the institutional space of a museum as a place for engagement, inclusion, imagination, and potential—not gentrification, removal, containment, and restrictions,” Mkali said. “‘Rituals of Resilience’ is about the act of survival under intense pressure and heat. It’s a place to hide when being in your body isn’t safe, a reimagining of new worlds and possibilities.”
Visual artists featured in the exhibition include Kevin Beasley, Bisa Butler, Jordan Casteel, Deborah Roberts, Cinga Samson, and Billie Zangewa. Many of the artworks—such as Amoako Boafo’s 2020 painting 2pc Floral Suit—will be shown to the public for the first time.
To make the accompanying album, Mkali conducted in-depth research on each artist and examined how and why they create. The resulting 16 tracks deliver a collective 51-minute atmospheric sonic landscape that is spacious and luxurious in its care for sound and tonality, inviting listeners to enter a meditative state. The beats are uplifting and celebratory yet convey an urgent ancestral message that tells the story of a collective Black consciousness transcending time and space.
“It is an honor to work with Chaka Mkali and his collaborators,” Ritter said. “‘Rituals of Resilience’ is an immersive audio-visual experience that emphasizes art as something to be felt throughout your entire being.”
Museum visitors are encouraged to bring their own devices and headsets for use in “Rituals of Resilience,” where they will be able to scan a QR code to access Mkali’s album. Due to Covid-19 protocols, Mia is unable to offer shared devices at this time. More information on the exhibition, including details on accompanying programs, can be found here. The Rituals of Resilience album is produced by Orko Eloheim, Medium Zach, and I Self Devine, with features from The Lioness, SoloStar, Tish Jones, Izell Pyramid, Muja Messiah, Greg Grease, I-BE, and others. The exhibition will be on view through February 27, 2022.
A Bush Foundation fellowship recipient and Roy Wilkins Center for Human Relations and Social Justice fellow, Chaka Mkali is an emcee, community organizer, strategist, racial justice trainer, graffiti artist, and muralist. Mkali is also the director of organizing and community building at Hope Community, which seeks to create connections that strengthen the power of community members and communities cultivating leaders and building capacity. He resides in Minneapolis.
