BlackScape

Percussionist and composer, JoVia Armstrong, created the soundscape for The Black Index by mixing sounds contributed by each of the exhibition artists. Artist Lava Thomas reads an excerpt from an account of the Montgomery Bus Boycott written by civil rights leader Jo Ann Robinson. Anthropologist Zora Neale Hurston explains how to play a card game. Poet Reginald Dwayne Betts recites his poetry. These sounds are played intermittently along with audio from a scene in the film Blade Runner 2049 (Dir. Denis Villeneuve), the singing of African American work songs, and a selection of natural ambient noises. Together these sounds create an aural layer for the viewers’ exhibition experience.