Leading Women in the Arts presents artist Okwui Okpokwasili

Mount Holyoke College’s Leading Women in the Arts honors artist, performer, choreographer and writer Okwui Okpokwasili as the biennial series returns in person.

Okpokwasili will give her keynote address on Sunday, October 2, at 4:30 pm in the Gamble Auditorium in the Art Building. The address will be livestreamed. Okwui is an American artist, choreographer and writer. Her multidisciplinary performances draw upon her training in theater, and she describes her work as being at “the intersection of theater, dance and the installation.” Okpokwasili has received several Bessie Awards for her performances, including performances in works she wrote and developed herself. In 2018 she was named a MacArthur Fellow, which includes a prestigious grant intended to enable recipients to further develop their talent.

The New York Times, in a review of her show “Bronx Gothic,” called Okpokwasili “a magnetic performer. In a voice that can be confiding or terrifying and movement that can be ugly or sinuous, she holds the show together, lending her story unexpected emotional and physical contours.”

The Leading Women in the Arts series is a collaboration between the Weissman Center for Leadership and the InterArts Council. This program reflects the Center’s support of public presentations by scholars, artists, writers and practitioners who engage the academic work of the College with the public sphere. Invited guest artists are featured in public campus discussions about the interconnectedness of creative expression and cultural transformations.

This event is free and open to the public. For more information, please visit the event page.