Samora Pinderhughes, composer, pianist, vocalist, filmmaker, and multidisciplinary artist,
performed March 21st at the Eldorado Ballroom, owned by Project Row Houses. Known for striking intimacy and carefully crafted, radically honest lyrics, Pinderhughes uses music, visual arts, film, and language as abolitionist action to examine sociopolitical issues. Working in the tradition of the black surrealists throughout the African Diaspora who bend word, sound, and image towards the causes of revolution, Pinderhughes is a prison and police abolitionist, an anti-capitalist, and an advocate for process over product.
The Healing Project, for which Pinderhughes was recently awarded a $1 million grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, began in 2014 as an interview-based artistic work examining systemic oppression and articulating paths to individual and communal healing by bringing together the stories of people impacted by structural violence. The project has expanded and evolved over the last decade to include a constellation of creative works exploring the daily realities of violence, incarceration, detention, and policing in communities across the United States. Now an arts organization based in New York City, The Healing Project’s community has grown to include world-class artists whose collective works appear in a full-length album, short films, museum exhibitions, live concerts, and a newly launched workshop focusing on advocacy-oriented projects.
The Houston production of The Healing Project was co-presented by the Mitchell Center, Project Row Houses and the Elizabeth D Rockwell Center for Ethics and Leadership at Hobby School of Public Affairs, University of Houston. Pinderhughes is a Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center for the Arts visiting artist. Through ongoing partnerships with Houston artistic and cultural institutions, the Mitchell Center is committed to making its programs available to the local community free of charge.