“Cast(e): Keeping It A Century” is an urban version of Richard Serra’s “Splashing” spliced with Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five’s “The Message.” “Cast(e): Keeping It A Century” is in direct conversation with hip-hop, contemporary art and with what Dr. Joy DeGruy terms Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome. This performance is a direct attempt at healing. I towed 100 glass beer bottles, in procession with community members, approximately four blocks through Benson, a community of Omaha, NE.

Once arriving at PetShop Gallery, I met face to face with poet Catherine Chen. We connected ourselves through one long piece of twine in our mouths. Viewers watched from within the gallery and continued watching as we parted spaces—her upper level, me lower level (in a split level home-turned-gallery space). Immediately I began casting bottles against the wall down on the lower level. Viewers watched from outside the gallery through the windows. Simultaneously, Chen began reciting poetry in regards to body-recorded trauma. After breaking the bottles, I chewed my way to Chen. We met face to face. Afterward, we took a breath together then bowed to the audience to note the completion of performance.