Reading the Realness (2017)

By Harold Offeh

A photograph of participants seated around a wooden desk in a gallery window, reading from scripts.

A photograph of participants seated around a wooden desk in a gallery window, reading from scripts.

 

Reading the Realness, is a cast reading performance. Six students from Kingston University, London were asked to read a transcript of a conversation between the presenters of US talk show The Real and activist Rachel Dolezal. Dolezal come to public attention when she was "outed" for living as an African-American woman. Dolezal in the TV talk show is in discussion with the presenters who are all women of colour.

Reading the Realness invited the performers to each read the script 3 times, each time taking on the part of a different character.


The work seeks to open up the original text through repetition of its re-performance. More information:

More information:

Website: http://www.haroldoffeh.com

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Harold Offeh

Harold Offeh is an artist working in a range of media including performance, video, photography, learning and social arts practice. Offeh, often employs humour as a means to confront the viewer with historical narratives and contemporary culture and is interested in the space created by the inhabiting or embodying of history. He has exhibited widely in the UK and internationally including Tate Britain and Modern, Studio Museum Harlem, South London Gallery, MAC VAL, Kulturhusset Stockholm and Kunsthal Charlottenborg.

http://www.haroldoffeh.com/

ProjectContributorRace, Performance, Text