About this Event
JJJJJerome Ellis describes themselves as a “Jamaican-Grenadian-American, disabled animal, stutterer, and artist” who speaks with a glottal block stutter, an involuntary speech dysfluency that manifests in pauses while talking. The artist explores relationships between Blackness, disabled speech, divinity, plant life, sound, and time. Their practice spans various formats, including soundscapes composed of saxophone, dulcimer, electronics, and vocals; spoken and written word; and theatrical performances.
For the High Line, Ellis presents Music for the Garden and Celebrating Stuttering Voices, a series of performances that combine music, poetry, ceremonial space, and nature to highlight and honor those who stutter. The final performance, Celebrating Stuttering Voices, will feature readings and conversation by both the artist and their four collaborators from the People Who Stutter Create (PWSC) collective—Jia Bin, Delicia Daniels, Conor Foran, and Kristel Kubart—interspersed with occasional musical interludes by Ellis. Through repeated sounds, prolonged sounds, and blocks with no sound, PWSC aims to describe and transform social reality. Celebrating Stuttering Voices will offer an intimate opportunity to create room for deep listening, understanding, and collaboration.
Artist Bio
JJJJJerome Ellis (b. 1989, Groton, Connecticut) lives and works in Tidewater, Virginia. Ellis’ recent work has been featured at institutions including Tate Modern, London, United Kingdom (2024); The Getty Center, Los Angeles, California (2023); Gray Center for Arts and Inquiry, The University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois (2023); Poetry Foundation, Chicago, Illinois (2023); ICA Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (2023); Haus der Kunst, Munich, Germany (2022); and SCAD Museum of Art, Savannah, Georgia (2022). Ellis has participated in major international exhibitions, including the Whitney Biennial, the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, New York (2024); and The 67th Festival of Contemporary Music, Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy (2023).
People Who Stutter Create (PWSC)
The collective People Who Stutter Create (PWSC) contends that stuttering (also called stammering) can create room for deep listening and collaboration. Through repeated sounds, prolonged sounds, and blocks with no sound, the group aims to describe social reality while also being able to change it through the act of description. PWSC comprises five artists who stutter/stammer: Born in China, Jia Bin is a US-based doctoral student in communication sciences and disorders. With a deep commitment to empowerment and inclusion, Bin envisions innovative projects to spotlight the beauty and power of stuttered speech, fostering a more supportive world for those who stutter in any language. Delicia Daniels is a poet and activist. An assistant professor of creative writing, her debut poetry collection, The Language We Cry In, was published in 2017. JJJJJerome Ellis is a multi-hyphenate artist. Through music, text, performance, video, and photography, they research relationships among Blackness, disabled speech, divinity, nature, sound, and time. Conor Foran is a London-based Irish creative practitioner. Through his Dysfluent practice, he considers how stammering intersects with creativity and how art and design can instigate social change. Kristel Kubart is a speech-language pathologist who stutters and has cerebral palsy. She works with children, teens, and adults who stutter, and helps them embrace their stuttering, stutter more freely, and learn to trust their voice.
Accessibility
We encourage all persons with disabilities to attend. ASL interpretation will be available for this performance. To request additional information regarding accessibility or accommodations at a program, please contact [email protected]. Program venues are accessible via wheelchair. The nearest elevator is located near the main entrance at the corner of Gansevoort and Washington Street.
ASL Artist Bio
Brandon Kazen-Maddox (they/them) is a Grandchild of Deaf Adults, or GODA, and third-generation heritage signer of American Sign Language. Brandon is an ASL Artist, choreographer, filmmaker, dancer, actor, acrobat, and activist and has spent the last 10 years as a professional ASL interpreter. Brandon creates work with and for the Deaf and Disability communities, and highlights and empowers BIPOC and LGBTQAI+ artists, building bridges among people of all backgrounds and abilities. Brandon holds an MFA in Dance and New Technology from NYU Tisch School of the Arts and is a co-founder of Up Until Now Collective, an arts and media company that focuses on developing and producing radically inclusive, interdisciplinary work. Brandon’s work has been profiled by The New York Times, ABC World News and The PBS NewsHour.
Event Information
In the case of inclement weather for the performance Celebrating Stuttering Voices on Thursday, June 27 the event will be relocated to Gansevoort Street Plaza located underneath the High Line at street level.
Support
Lead support for High Line Art comes from Amanda and Don Mullen. Major support is provided by Shelley Fox Aarons and Philip E. Aarons, The Brown Foundation, Inc. of Houston, and Charina Endowment Fund.
High Line Art is supported, in part, with public funds from the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature, and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the New York City Council, under the leadership of Speaker Adrienne Adams.
Photo credit
People Who Stutter Create: Stuttering Can Create Time is part of Whitney Biennial 2024: Even Better Than the Real Thing and is presented at 95 Horatio Street, on the facade of the building across the street from the Whitney and the south end of the High Line.
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Main Entrance: Corner of Gansevoort Street, 820 Washington Street, New York, United States
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