About this Event
Ritual and Rememory Weekend gathers artists, archivists, family historians, memory workers, and community members for two days of hands-on workshops and conversation on tending to, creating from, and preserving memory. Together we’ll explore family history, archiving, and the creative practices that keep stories alive.
The weekend takes place on November 14th and 15th during What Shall I Do With My Dead?, an exhibition of family archives and textile art on the afterlives of migration by Raja’Nee and Jalen Hamilton.
Doors open at 12:30 PM for exhibition viewing. Sessions begin at 1 PM. All are welcome.
Presented with support from Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE) Individual Artists Program, Black Metropolis Research Consortium (BMRC), THE CR8TV HOUSE, and Blanc Gallery.
November 14
🕑: 12:30 PM - 05:00 PM
Day 1: Ritual
🕑: 12:30 PM - 01:00 PM
Doors Open
Info: Take in What Shall I Do With My Dead? before sessions begin.
🕑: 01:00 PM - 02:30 PM
Kitchen Table Archiving: Archivist’s Guide to Caring for Your Family History
Host: Gabrielle Banks, Archivist
Info: In this hands-on workshop, participants will sort, store, and protect the family photos, letters, and documents you bring, so you leave with your own materials archived and ready to last for generations. Complimentary archive-in-a-box given to first 25 attendees.
🕑: 01:00 PM - 02:30 PM
Evidence of the Living: A Sewing Circle for Mending, Memory, and Material
Host: Jalen Hamilton, Artist
Info: Long before photo albums, families stitched their stories into quilts, hems, and handed-down cloth. Sit inside the exhibition and learn the basics of hand sewing, from threading a needle to a few simple stitches you can use to mend, patch, and make something of your own. All levels welcome
🕑: 02:45 PM - 04:15 PM
Sankofa: Finding Family Histories
Host: Raja'Nee Hamilton
Info: Sankofa teaches us to go back and retrieve what we need to move forward. This session walks you through the records, databases, and research tools that help trace your family’s path, whether you’re starting with a single name or picking up a search you began years ago. Bring a laptop for dedicated time to research.
November 15
🕑: 12:30 PM - 05:00 PM
Day 2: Rememory
🕑: 12:30 PM - 01:00 PM
Doors Open
Info: View What Shall I Do With My Dead ahead of the workshops
🕑: 01:00 PM - 05:00 PM
Built for the Ones Who Come After: Tintype Portraits
Host: Atoi Glennette
Info: Appointments are required. Reserve your spot for $20. Sit for a portrait your great-grandchildren could hold. A tintype is a photograph made directly on metal, the same process our ancestors used in the 1800s, and with care it can last more than 150 years. Each appointment is a 15-minute sitting for one pose, with up to two people in the frame, and you’ll leave with a one-of-a-kind plate. We will email you directly to set up appointment when you book this ticket.
🕑: 01:00 PM - 02:30 PM
What Remains: Blackout Poetry and Embroidery on Family Archives
Host: Learenna Reynolds
Info: Create blackout poems from Ntozake Shange’s “for my dead & loved ones,” the poem that inspired the exhibition’s title, and embroider onto copies of family archives with poet Learenna Reynolds.
🕑: 03:00 PM - 05:00 PM
The Memory Parlor: A Conversation with Memory Workers and Artists
Host: Kenn Cook Jr.
Info: The Memory Parlor brings together people who spend their lives tending to what families have kept and documenting the lives we’re living now. They’ll talk about what gets saved and what gets lost, how art grows out of an archive, and what we owe the people whose stories we carry. Bring your questions, your stories, and whatever you’ve been holding since the weekend began.
Event venue & nearby stays
Blanc, 4445 South Doctor Martin Luther King Junior Drive, Chicago, United States
Concerts, fests, parties, meetups — all the happenings, one place.