Friday, August 11, 2023
6 pm
Detroit Institute of Art
5200 Woodward Ave
Detroit, MI 48202
Map
Join InsideOut Literary Arts and some of Detroit’s finest poets for a reading celebrating the photography of James Barnor. The event will showcase new poetic works written during visits to the James Barnor Accra/London exhibition. Featuring performances by MARS, Kweku Abimbola, La Shaun phoenix Moore, Peace Bell, and Robert Laidler. The event place will take place on the 2nd floor of the Detroit Institute of Art, directly outside the James Barnor London/Accra exhibition.
Free with general museum admission. *General museum admission is FREE for residents of Macomb, Oakland and Wayne counties.
Kweku Abimbola is of Gambian, Ghanaian, and Sierra Leonean descent. His first full-length poetry collection, Saltwater Demands a Psalm, won the Academy of American Poets First Book Prize. He is a graduate of the University of Michigan’s Helen Zell Writing Program.
MARS is a writer and cultural organizer born and raised in Detroit. MARS is a 2021 Kresge Literary Arts Fellow in Poetry and a 2019 Lambda Literary Art Emerging Writers Fellow in Poetry. Their debut chapbook, FLOWER BOI, is available via Gold Line Press.
La Shaun phoenix Moore is a Detroit-based vocalist, spoken word artist, activist, culture creator and wife. Moore’s interdisciplinary work is infused with her love for the city of Detroit, hip-hop, God, social justice and her black momma. She is the recipient of the 2020 and 2021 Creators of Culture Award by CultureSource.
PEACE Bell is a two-time Recording Artist, two-time Grand Slam Champion and organizer who continues to move crowds with her energetic wordplay. PEACE is the current Producer and Host of the “Open Mind Mic Series” in Downtown Detroit with her husband Comedian Jbell.
Robert Laidler, Assistant Professor of Teaching at Wayne State, is the author of a poetic libretto, The Fallen Petals of Nameless Flowers, which premiered at Chamber Music Detroit in 2022. He earned his MFA in poetry from the University of Michigan’s Helen Zell Writing Program.
