One of the most thoughtful and influential artists or our time, Ralph Lemon is a dancer, choreographer, writer, visual artist. He has been a consistent artistic and intellectual force in the Twin Cities through his many residencies, commissions, performances, exhibitions, and digital art pieces presented by the Walker since 1997. As a Black artist who grew up in Minneapolis in the 1960s and 1970s, Lemon will reflect on those times and ours; the role of the arts and artists in the raw struggle for racial justice; the age of pandemic and its meaning and impact; and what he is contemplating now, poetically, politically, personally. His conversation with Philip Bither, Director and Senior Curator of Performing Arts—a continuation of their 23-year ongoing dialogue—will touch on history, trauma, literature, creative movement, race, memory, aging, and radical disruption, key elements found in Lemon’s rigorous creative research and the indelible resulting works.
