Project: S*an D. Henry-Smith
“in awe of geometry & mornings”

White Columns is pleased to present “in awe of geometry & mornings”, the New York-based poet and photographer S*an D. Henry-Smith’s first photography-focused presentation in New York City.

“in awe of geometry & mornings” brings to scale a selection of ten photographs drawn from Wild Peach, Henry-Smith’s collection of poems and photographs published in Fall 2020 by Futurepoem. The artist describes Wild Peach as an exploration of nonlinear, non-narrative time through what they identify as a sonic offering of image and text – a sensory amplification of the natural world and life in all of its transitory states – challenging poetry and photography to work together without illustrating one another.

Henry-Smith’s images have emerged from a long-standing process of witnessing what they have described as “the abstractions of the available.” The photographs themselves exist within a larger constellation of works made across several years and in different locales including: Goosenecks State Park, UT; Catskills, NY; New Orleans, LA; and Brooklyn, NY, among others.

These works respond to scholar and author Kevin Everod Quashie’s question, “Simply, what does a quiet life look like?” (from the book “The Sovereignty of Quiet: Beyond Resistance in Black Culture”) and upon further reflection Henry-Smith, asks back: “What is the threshold of volume? In the garden and the noise, what must be learned from the garble? Making myself porous to potent stillnesses, these photographs are made with a sensitivity to the worlds I am invited to, the secrets we co-create, the tender offerings of the Outdoors: stumbling into a sky ablaze, or met with the charmed gaze of kinship, this methodology informs a long practice in witnessing the abstractions of the available, the unfolding of light and time, glimpses of autofiction if the hand reveals its cards.”

S*an D. Henry-Smith (b. 1992 Brooklyn, NY) is an artist and writer working primarily in poetry, photography, and performance, engaging Black experimentalisms and collaborative practices. Recent readings and performances include Call with Justin Allen and Yulan Grant, The Shed, New York, NY (2020); book launch and reading with E. Jane, Gabrielle Rucker, and Jayson P. Smith, White Columns, New York, NY (2019); Zong! by M. NourbeSe Philip: A Collective Reading with LaTasha N. Nevada Diggs, Erica Hunt, and Rosamond S. King, Poets House, New York, NY (2019); and The Pearl Diver’s Revenge with Imani Elizabeth, by Triple Canopy, New York, NY (2019.) Recent group exhibitions include Harlem Postcards Winter 2020, The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY (2020.)

Copies of Wild Peach (Futurepoem, 2020) are available for purchase from the gallery and at futurepoem.com.

A series of online readings will accompany the exhibition. Details to follow.

For further information, contact: info@whitecolumns.org

“Never Created, Never Destroyed” Virtual Reading

White Columns, with artist S*an D. Henry-Smith, is pleased to present the first in a series of virtual readings and conversations in celebration of the artist’s exhibition, “in awe of geometry & mornings”.

For this event Henry-Smith along with poet and performer Justin Allen, artist and photographer Elliott Jerome Brown Jr., and visual artist Kearra Amaya Gopee will come together for a reading and conversation reflecting on language, image, and text in their practices.

January 26, 2021

“in awe of geometry & mornings” reading series

White Columns, with artist S*an D. Henry-Smith, is pleased to present the second in a series of virtual readings and conversations in celebration of the artist’s exhibition, “in awe of geometry & mornings”.

For this event Henry-Smith will come together in sonic kinship with writer and self-taught craftswoman Joselia Rebekah Hughes, poet Imani Elizabeth Jackson, author Taylor Johnson, writer and literary radio experimentalist Gabrielle Octavia Rucker, and author Nikki Wallschlaeger.

February 4, 2021

“in awe of geometry & mornings” reading series

White Columns, with artist S*an D. Henry-Smith, is pleased to present the third in a series of virtual readings and conversations in celebration of the artist’s exhibition, “in awe of geometry & mornings”.

For this event Henry-Smith will come together in sonic kinship with poet A. H. Jerriod Avant, poet Nabila Lovelace, poet and educator Charleen McClure, author Saretta Morgan, and interdisciplinary artist, writer, and curator Jayson P. Smith.

February 25, 2021

“in awe of geometry & mornings”

White Columns, with artist S*an D. Henry-Smith, is pleased to present fourth and final event in a series of online talks and readings organized on the occasion of S*an’s exhibition, “in awe of geometry & mornings”.

For this event S*an D. Henry-Smith will be in conversation with Sasha Phyars-Burgess and Kameelah Janan Rasheed. Moderated by Ayanna Dozier.

March 6, 2021