This crankie was created as part of The Peale's 2019 Mash-Up grant, read below for more info about that program. This piece was an hour-long performance, written, sung, and performed by Storytellers Anokwale Anansesemfo,  President of the Griots’ Circle of Maryland, and Mama Linda Goss, Co-founder of the National Association of the Black Storytellers, for an opening night at The Peale Musum in the summer of 2019. The crankie was designed and produced in collaboration with the storytellers' original script, made up of poems, songs, and historical narratives from three enslaved women brought to antebellum Maryland during the Transatlantic Slave Trade. Dewmore Baltimore Poet Laureate Deleicea Greene joined us for the live event to perform a contemporary narrative of oppression and the fight for freedom. 
 

Description of the Mash Up Grant:

Aiming to build bridges between audiences and creators in Baltimore’s arts scene, the “Mash-ups” exhibition features the work of three groups who were awarded grants to create storytelling projects with collaborators they had neither known nor worked with previously. In just two months, these artists and performers pooled their diverse skillsets and experiences to explore new ways that storytelling can help connect silos and communities across the city. Curated by Nate Couser of the Artist Exchange Radio Show and Producer at the Peale Center, this exhibition is a presentation of their storytelling projects and what they learned from the process of creating with new partners.