The Friction, the Mixing, the Weaving: An Interview with Collaborators Mendi + Keith Obadike

By Laura Wetherington

Laura Wetherington: Could you outline how "The Earth Will Hear (for Audre Lorde and Marlon Riggs)" was conceived, composed, and produced?

Mendi + Keith Obadike: We had been planning a series of praise songs for sometime, and these two artists were at the top of our list. We were approached by an arts organization in upstate New York named Denniston Hill (founded by writer Lawrence Chua, painter Julie Merehetu, video…

To Complicate the Performative and Enliven the Literary

Jon Cotner and Andy Fitch Reflect on Collaboration

Laura Wetherington: Could you talk about how your conversation art is conceived, composed, and produced? Do you use storyboards or other planning methods? Is there a kind of editing that comes in mid-conversation, or do you edit in any way after the fact?

Andy Fitch: Every line in our 300-page Conversations over Stolen Food comes from unscripted recorded conversation. At the same time, each sentence has been compressed,…