Building Black Uto-poems: Transforming Redlines into Green Phrases

Building Black Uto-poems: Transforming Redlines into Green Phrases
Project by Nerissa Street
Presented in partnership with Miami-Dade Public Library System

Free with RSVP | Register here

Building Black Uto-poems: Transforming Redlines into Green Phrases uses visionary oral storytelling as a healing practice for residents of divested communities. After a guided somatic session prompted by the concept of a “Black Utopia,” residents will be given the opportunity to retell the story of their own neighborhood through poetic dreaming.

Their responses will be edited into a short film featuring a commissioned epic poem inspired by the history of the community. The experience culminates with a community screening of the completed short film, and the resident “uto-poems” will become digital monuments accessed via QR codes placed throughout the neighborhood. Our goal? Storytelling that uses technology to amplify and distribute the message will also game the online algorithms to improve the prevailing narrative about this neighborhood.

Join our first session at the North Dade Regional Library on April 20!