Two artists, two continents, and two endeavors to bring more awareness to each of their peoples.
At Springfield Museums, a collection of paintings aims to raise awareness and honor the many missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls and two-spirit people across the continent. Nayana LaFond’s “Portraits in Red” melds realism with Indigenous belief as it puts faces to the ongoing crisis, and we hear more about the project’s online origins in the early pandemic, its impact on folx everywhere, and the reasons for the project's upcoming end.
And tonight at The Iron Horse, an afrobeat legend will close out the Secret Planet’s second season. Gyedu-Blay Ambolley has a storied career spanning 5 decades and 30 albums, affirming him as a pioneer and innovator for two, possibly three, musical genres. We speak with the musical ambassador and veteran about music in Ghana, the rhythmic diaspora he works with, and the importance of playing his debut album July 2 in Northampton.
