PARTICIPANT AFTER DARK presents
Baseera Khan and Patricia Okoumou in dialogue
February 27 – March 5, 2022
Video premiere on participantafterdark.art

Baseera Khan, Core-On (Core Dash On)
book launch
Sunday, February 27, 5–8pm  at HOUSING, 191 Henry Street NYC

As part of the public launch of Baseera Khan, Core-On (Core Dash On), published by PARTICIPANT PRESS and HOUSING, we are pleased to premiere a conversation between Khan and the New York based social activist Patricia Okoumou on PARTICIPANT AFTER DARK. This intimate dialogue took place during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, and now functions as a timestamped moment between Khan and Okoumou to discuss the rigors behind climbing as both a pragmatic and artistically imbued act of corporeal decolonization. Endurance is another generative component for both artists and activists within the psycho-emotional and physical realms. Okoumou’s sociopolitical labor centers the constant need for social justice reform, gender equity, and human rights. In 2018, Okoumou climbed the Statue of Liberty as a solidified act of protest against immigration policy enacted by the previous administration. In public appearances including this video, Okoumou and her son Mbemba Makouela Okoumou don handmade army green outfits with texts that talk back to the former first lady’s “I really don’t care. Do u?” jacket.

Video credits:

Editor: Isaiah Davis

Cameras: Glen Fogel, Jordan Strafer

Patricia Okoumou and Mbemba Makouela Okoumou’s wardrobe: Suze GX Designs and Amy Volchok

Artwork: Jonathan Berger, Untitled (Emily Anderson and Mark Utter, with Erica Heilman), 2019, installation view at Participant Inc, New York. Jonathan Berger:* An Introduction to Nameless *Love was co-organized by Participant Inc, New York, and Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts at Harvard University.

Production in conjunction with the New Orleans Museum of Art's 2020 Exhibition Mending the Sky
Audio: Seth Boonchai
Open captioning: 3play Media
Duration: 23:36
Recorded on: August 7, 2020