African song / Fatu Gayflor • War and wealth - Philadelphia Folklore ...

y Toni Shapiro-Phim
and Debora Kodish
Introduction
The women pictured in this
exhibition choose, against all
odds, to learn, practice and teach
cultural heritage—folk and
traditional arts—in the 21st
century. Here are nine exceptional
artists, caught in moments that
hint at the complexity of their lives
and arts: Antonia Arias, Fatu
Gayflor, Vera Nakonechny,
Ayesha Rahim, Anna Rubio,
Yvette Smalls, Michele
Tayoun, Elaine Hoffman Watts
and Susan Watts. Art
forms represented include
flamenco, Liberian song, Ukrainian
needlework, African American
crochet/crown-making and hair
sculpture, Middle Eastern
dance and song, and Jewish
klezmer music, a small sampling of
the vital contemporary
practice of traditional arts in
Philadelphia today. Some of the
women pictured were featured in
recent Folklore Project concerts,
salons or exhibitions; others will
be featured in concerts this
coming year. This exhibition
takes viewers behind the scenes,
suggesting some of the ongoing
work behind polished
performances and exquisite craft,
reminding us of the depth and
breadth of relationships in which
these women work. Here are
artists honoring responsibility to
family and broader communities
(and to cultural practices and
their lineages), all while
enmeshed in the fast-paced global
shifts that impact us all. And all
while producing exquisite and
important art.
In her own way, each of
the featured artists is
groundbreaking: juggling a push at
conventions (artistic and social)
while respecting canons, or
balancing a life-long dedication to
learning a cultural practice while
isolated from other such
practitioners, or insisting on
constructive, positive self-imagery
in the face of racism and inequity.
Nine women, out of hundreds
of artists with whom the Folklore
Project has worked over two
decades: this 20th anniversary
exhibition reflects ongoing and
shared commitments to widening
public knowledge about what
counts as culture, to grappling
with the continuing significance
of heritage in a fractured world,
and to creating (somehow,
and together) systems and
structures supporting meaningful
cultural diversity.
Responsibility
and Balance
Come into their homes! Like the
arts in which they excel, these are
women with many places they
consider home. With roots in
Liberia, Lebanon, Spain, Ukraine
and elsewhere, they create and
perform on many more stages than
an outside public can know, or than
a conventional biography might
reveal. Their balancing acts,
whether improvised or wellplanned,
reflect responsibility to
family, community, heritage, artistic
traditions, social justice, and more.
1] Yvette Smalls does hair:
she is a master braider and a hair
sculptor, revealing the beauty
within her clients. Here she
welcomes the photographer, and
us, to her home in West
Philadelphia, 2007.
2] Saturday morning breakfast
for Liberian singer Fatu Gayflor
and family (husband Timothy
Karblee and daughter Fayola
Thelma Karblee) at home in
Sicklerville, New Jersey, 2007.
Because of work schedules, the
family can enjoy a morning meal
together only once or twice a
week.
3] Anna Rubio (center) and
fellow flamenco dancer Gigi
Quintana stretch before a
rehearsal in the Rubios’ South
Philadelphia rowhouse. Anna’s
son David is on the left, 2006.
4] Ukrainian needlework artist
Vera Nakonechny, wearing a
traditional embroidered shirt,
lights candles for Easter dinner
[Continued on next page >]
2007-2008 Winter WIP 15