Spoken-word artist and environmental activist Marc Bamuthi Joseph spent three years hosting environmental festivals in African-American communities in Chicago, Houston, Harlem, and Oakland. Of each city, he would ask the same question: What sustains life in your community? The multimedia show red, black & GREEN: a blues is the result.
Through poetry, film, photography, dance and sculpture, rbG:b offers a glimpse into environmentally conscious African-American communities. “The green sector has an identity problem,” Joseph says; rbG:b explores black America’s ignored role. In Oakland, for instance, Joseph found that kids trick out their bicycles instead of cars: hip-hop fashion meets environmentalism, something the green movement wouldn’t usually recognize as a sustainable practice. “They’re just superfly at the same time,” he says. “Part of what we say is you can be both.” 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday. University of Houston, 4800 Calhoun. For information, call 713-743-5749 or visit www.mitchellcenterforarts.org. $10 to $20.
Fri., Nov. 4; Sat., Nov. 5, 2011
This article appears in Nov 3-9, 2011.