ANY PLACE BUT HERE
2017
Conceived by: Chris Emile & Amie Cota
Any Place But Here explores themes of home and identity as reflected through the Great Migration — a 60 year span during which nearly 6 million African Americans moved from the South to cities in the North and West. Each songs’ lyrics are an adaptation of a poem written by 20th century African American writers. Set against Gary Simmons’ monumental mural, ‘Fade to Black,’ this collaboration highlights a history and a literature that, like so much of African American’s national contributions, threatens to disappear from our collective memory.
Commissioned by the California African American Museum