Auntie Kym: Stoop Sittin’
Curated by Makeba Rainey with Ali Ruffner
Friday, February 11, 2022 – Sunday, March 13, 2022
Presented in Commons Space – B
PLAN YOUR VISIT
Vox Populi is open Noon-6pm, Fridays-Sundays, or by appointment (email: vox@voxpopuligallery.org). High quality masks (double-surgical masks or (K)N95 masks) required while on-site, no cloth masks please. You are welcome to drop-in or schedule your visit via the link below!
About the Exhibition
Stoop sittin’ was/is a way for the community to disseminate information, be it national news, gossip, community protection, or to just socialize and laugh with neighbors. It’s ancestral in practice. It is socially and culturally impactive. The stoop is an educational institution for many in the inner city, especially in Philly with its archetypal rowhomes. The practice of stoop sittin’ enables the community to share in each other’s joys, triumphs, and pain. It is a multi-generational place of communal learning and healing.
As a Black woman raised in these surroundings, the stoop has always been a welcoming place for Auntie Kym – a safe space. Stoop sitting has hugely impacted her life. From the stories and lessons shared by peers, elders, and family/village, the stoop has been an ever-present way for Auntie Kym to not only bear witness, but to also be a part of community.
Auntie Kym shares this practice of congregation in fellowship with others through story-telling and audience participation.
About the Artist
Kym Norfleet (Auntie Kym) is an artist, writer, poet, local oral historian, and free spirit from North Philadelphia by way of Hollywood, CA. She writes prose and poetry and hosts community conversations centered on healing and freedom. The tapestry of her work is woven together through storytelling that explores personal triumph, pain, glory, and the love she has experienced on her sojourn as a Black Woman, Mother, lover, survivor, and friend. Her desire is to share her craft, life and wisdom in an effort to build a more beautiful and compassionate world for us all. She lives, writes, and creates from her abode in Center City. She is the proud mother of one: Sydney Devereoux, who is also an artist. Auntie Kym is also a grandmother to three beautiful granddaughters: Thai, Hudsyn and Coltrane.
More Info: @auntiekym
Curator Info: Makeba Rainey (@justkeebs) + Ali Ruffner (@aliruffner)